


Camp Friendship

by SetsuntaMew



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Archived From FanFiction.Net, Crack, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Humor, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2006-11-01
Updated: 2007-10-30
Packaged: 2019-09-16 03:34:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16946193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SetsuntaMew/pseuds/SetsuntaMew
Summary: Because NOTHING is nearly as fun as summer camp. Adult supervision is for squares.





	1. Prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _For the sake of archiving what I've written, I'm preserving my author's notes...from when I was 14....please keep that in mind before commenting on them._
> 
> Is it...can it possibly be...a fic? Oh yeah. I'm participating in NaNaWriMo this year, and this is what I'm writing. Updates will be sporadic, because I really don't want to post unedited stuff. Yeah. Enjoy your prologue!

Sora was not looking forward to summer camp. He had planned on spending the summer hanging with his best friends, Riku and Kairi, learning to drive, and basically, just relaxing. Instead, he and his twin brother Roxas were being shipped off to an all summer long camp. Sure, he could understand why- his parents were in the middle of what was turning into a very messy divorce and they didn't want their children to be in the middle of it. Still, he'd rather stay with friends or something.

He sighed. They'd been driving for three hours now. Sora was so tired of just sitting in the awkward silence of the car. His parents had both insisted on coming, wishing to bid farewell to their twins before duking it out in divorce court. This of course led to an uncomfortable drive to a camp that appeared to be in the middle of nowhere.

Without anything to do – he had brilliantly forgotten to bring any sort of entertainment for the long car trip – Sora was quite bored. And when he was bored, he tended to annoy the people around him. Namely, his younger-by-two minutes brother. Every previous family vacation's success could be categorized by how annoying Sora was to Roxas. The less, the better the trip had been. Sora had the feeling that this one was going to be one of the highly unsuccessful ones. He was just  _so bored_.

Poke.

"Sora, what are you doing?" Roxas asked calmly, looking up from his gameboy.

Poke poke.

An annoyed sigh from Roxas.

Poke poke poke.

"Sora. Please stop that," Roxas said, remaining surprisingly calm.

A pause. And then...poke. Poke poke poke.

Roxas glared at his brother, but opted not to say anything, instead returning to his game.

Sora glared right back. Roxas was practicing his patience skills, was he now? Well then Sora would have to test just how patient he could be.

Poke.

Roxas ignored him.

**Poke.**

Roxas continued to ignore him.

**Poke poke poke.**

Once again, he got nothing from his brother. Sora was becoming frustrated by his brother's lack of response. This "poke technique" had  _always_  worked in the past. He'd just have to try harder. And if that really wasn't going to work, he could always do the good old-fashioned "are we there yet?" approach.

**Poke! Poke poke.**

Finally, Roxas glared at him. Success was near!

**Poke poke poke poke poke.**

"Would you  _please_  stop poking me, Sora?" Roxas asked, trying to be calm, but Sora could hear the slight strain in his voice. Sixteen years together had taught him when Roxas was near his breaking point. And now it was so close he could almost  _taste_  it. So he stopped his poking for a moment. Just long enough to lull him into a false sense of security...

Poke.

"Why do you always have to  **do**  this?! Can't you simply  **sit still**  and entertain yourself?! I'm just trying to sit here and  **play a game in _peace_** , but apparently that's just  **not allowed**!" Roxas exploded in frustration.

Sora simply grinned at him. Mission accomplished.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Sometimes Roxas wondered how he and Sora could possibly be related, let alone twins. While he was quiet and tended to keep to himself and mind his own business, Sora was loud, obnoxious, and prying. He talked to everyone, whether they wanted him to or not. And lastly, his brother still resorted to childish, annoying habits solely to get him to snap! While Roxas could understand boredom – hell, he had been on this trip just as long as Sora had – that didn't mean that he turned into a five-year-old just because he had nothing else to do.

At least Sora had finished complaining about how boring camp was going to be. "Camp Rainbow Happy Sunshines" – as Sora called it – was obviously not what either of them had planned for this summer. Of course, neither of them had planned for their parents' impending divorce, either. But that was another thing entirely. Roxas was just so tired of hearing his brother complain about how horrible the summer was going to be without his best friends, whom he had spent every single summer with since Kairi had moved to Destiny Islands eleven years ago. Roxas couldn't understand it. He knew the three were close, but it seemed like all they did was mock-fight and relax on the island that gave the down its name.

Then again, Roxas  _was_  keeping a secret from his twin. Unable to contain themselves – and obviously unable to keep a secret – Riku and Kairi and come to Roxas a few weeks ago to ask about the camp. And not just general things, oh no, they had wanted exact details, right down to how much it cost, where exactly it was, and how did one get in? He refused to answer without knowing why they wanted this information, especially from  _him_  and not Sora. So with very little prodding, the whole plan came out. Sora's two wonderful friends were planning on surprising him by attending the camp as well.

In Roxas's mind, Sora really shouldn't be complaining so much about camp. If he knew his friends were coming, he'd probably be excited and asking "are we there yet?" every few minutes. Roxas, on the other hand, had no such luck with friends. He spent more time to himself, and therefore, had very few friends. He didn't have a close relationship with anyone, not like what Sora had with Riku and Kairi. Because of this, he was almost excited for camp. There'd be people he'd never met before, people who didn't simply classify him as Sora's quiet twin brother and ignore him.

Despite Roxas's excitement about making new friends, he still wasn't happy about the camp situation. If it weren't for his parents' upcoming divorce, he wouldn't be going. It was really a bit of a bittersweet trip, and he was starting it out not expecting anything particularly special to happen.

"I want to stop at the McDonalds!" Sora yelled all of sudden, shocking Roxas into walking his character off a cliff in the game. "I am soooo hungry. It's been over three  _hours_  since I've eaten last!"

Their mother turned around to answer Sora. "We're almost there, darling, could you just wait?"

Roxas rolled his eyes as Sora pouted. Then the car veered towards the exit, heading to the McDonalds.

"Yay!" Sora was thrilled. "Thank you daddyyy!" Their father grinned while their mother glared.

Twenty minutes later, they were back on the road, Sora happily munching away at a kids' meal and Roxas eating a cheeseburger. Fast food wasn't his favorite, but he had been hungry too. And who knows what kind of food would they serve at the camp?

"We'll be there in about an hour, okay boys? So be ready," their mother informed them.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Riku was beginning to rethink this idea of theirs to go to camp with Sora. First of all, it had been  _really hard_  that morning when they had said "good bye" to him. And then, Riku and Kairi had to wait to let Sora's family get far enough away before speeding off. They had to take an alternate route so that they wouldn't be seen, but it probably wouldn't get them there first, which had been the original plan.

Also, the route sucked. They were most definitely lost. All the back-country roads looked exactly the same to him. He swore he had seen that same cow five minutes ago. It was getting ridiculous.

"Kairi, are you sure you're reading the map properly?" he asked.

"Yes, Riku, I'm positive. It's really not that hard," she answered, slightly frustrated. That was probably because he had been asking the same thing for the past hour.

"But everything looks  _exactly the same_!"

"That's because you've spent your whole life in the city," she told him, sighing. "It'll do you good to get out in the country. But if you really want to get on a main road, turn at the next left and go for two miles, then turn left again. We're probably either too far behind or enough ahead that they won't see us."

"I knew you could save us from the unending country roads! I swear that cow was following us."

"Riku, I think you're beginning to imagine things. Just keep your eyes on the road and follow my directions, okay?"

"Yes ma'am," he said sarcastically, earning himself a glare. But at least they'd be getting back on a main highway, and they'd be able to get there faster. He was almost positive that Sora would get to camp first, thus ruining their entire surprise. Well, not the whole thing, but a big part of it. Beginnings were everything, you know?

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Axel was in a lot of trouble. He hadn't  _meant_  to light his room on fire, and he certainly hadn't meant to burn the garage down either. Fire was just so wonderful. And he had been, for the first time in his life, scared out of his mind. When he had been sitting there with both his parents glaring at him, he was almost certain that this was the final straw. He was eighteen now, they could kick him out and he'd have to go live with his older brother.

Somehow, his parents had decided to instead send him off some godforsaken camp in the middle of the country. They were going to spend the summer fixing everything that he had burned, and the last thing they wanted was Axel ruining it. They were giving him one last chance before they kicked him out on his ass. As lucky as he was for the chance, he was still pissed that he had to spend his summer at camp. But seeing as there was nothing else he could do, he settled on glaring at the back of his parents' heads.

"Now I know you're unhappy about this Axel, but it's for your own good. You can't keep burning things down. The insurance only covers so much, and they're becoming suspicious. You're lucky to be even getting this chance," his mother told him sternly. "Besides, you need to make some new friends besides that horrible group your  _brother_  hangs out with. This is a wonderful opportunity!"

Axel spent a lot of time questioning how this naïve, oblivious woman could possibly be the mother to two of the biggest "problem children" in town. Even when her sons were dropped off at all hours for a near-endless list of reasons, she still kept positive about  **everything**. Though, once Reno had moved out, she had begun threatening to send Axel to live with him, or warning that he would turn out like him if he didn't shape up, stop burning things, and make better friends.

She also treated him like he was five years old. Come on, summer camp? The whole idea was ridiculous and demeaning. He'd probably be the oldest one there. His mother had spent hours trying to convince him that "teens" went to this camp, too. Great, he'd be spending a summer with a bunch pre-pubescent thirteen-year-olds who thought they were cool 'cause they were "teenagers" now.

He sighed. It was still another hour or so until he'd get there, so he should value the time her had. Camp Friendship, indeed. He certainly wasn't expecting to make any friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's that. A simple little prologue. I'm not sure how much I'll update during NaNoWriMo, but I thought I'd post some. Leave reviews because I need all the advice I can get!


	2. Arrival at Camp Friendship

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fun. It's also about a billion times better than the prologue because I have to most amazing beta in the world, blockofthewritingkind. Thanks to everyone else who offered!

The first thing Roxas noticed about Camp Friendship – beyond how pretty it was, tucked away in the woods – were the counselors. Most camps had the counselors wearing bright colored, oversized T-shirts loudly displaying the camp's name in clashing colors. Instead, the majority of the counselors appeared to be dressed in all black.

After parking and exiting the car (finally), they needed to check in. A girl with blond hair and bangs that made her look like a bug directed Sora and Roxas towards the registration table. Their parents continued to stand on opposite sides of the car, looking awkwardly and angrily at each other. Trying to play peacemaker, Roxas asked them to help with his luggage. Sora, in a rare stroke of genius, followed suit.

At the registration table, Sora and he were given their cabin, room assignments, a camp T-shirt (pink with yellow writing – Roxas was not thrilled), and some general rules and directions.

"I'm in Harmony Cabin. What about you?" Sora asked, reading over his room assignment.

"Comity Cabin," Roxas answered.

"What does that even  _mean_?" Sora looked confused.

"Mutual courtesy or civility," answered a voice to his right.

"Riku!" Sora exclaimed happily, practically jumping on top of Riku in overbearing joy. "You're here! At camp! What are you doing here? Did I forget something? Am I dreaming? What's going on?"

Riku sighed at Sora's antics and Roxas rolled his eyes. "Calm down Sora. I'm here for camp. So is Kairi, but I think that I lost her back in the bushes."

"No, I'm here. Thanks for running off like that, Riku. Leave  _me_  with the luggage, why don't you?" Kairi was mock-glaring at Riku.

"Well, I didn't want to lose Sora..."

Roxas was definitely feeling like a third wheel here. He took this opportunity to say good bye to his parents and to try to find "Comity Cabin". Did all the cabin names have to do with friendship? It was Camp Friendship, but still.

After walking past a few other cabins, he finally came to his. It had a bright pink banner on the front that said "Welcome Campers" in big yellow letters, with "Comity Cabin" in smaller letters beneath that.

'Oh, great, it matches my shirt,' Roxas thought to himself sarcastically. He went in, not quite sure what to expect.

It was... _nice_. The room he walked into was a large central common room. Roxas could see doors that probably led to the rooms on either side of the room. Most of the campers had already arrived and were talking to one of their counselors, a young woman with a long brown braid tied with a pink ribbon. When she noticed him, she waved him over to the circle of campers.

"Hello, and welcome to Comity Cabin. I'm Aeris, and I'll be one of your cabin counselors for this summer," she said, greeting him kindly. "What's your name?"

"Er, I'm Roxas," he answered, a bit unsure as everyone was staring at him.

"Wonderful! That means we have everyone. The other counselors should be here in a moment, and then we can  _really_  begin," Aeris announced.

"We're here." Roxas turned to look at the other counselors. The one who had just spoken had long silver hair, and he was followed by a young woman with long dark brown hair and a man with medium length brown hair.

"Great! We'll just start introducing ourselves. As I've told most of you, I am Aeris. As well as being a counselor for Comity Cabin, I work in first aid and sometimes help with arts and crafts."

Aeris, Roxas decided, was overflowing with kindness and optimism to the point where everyone around her looked a little happier. Amazing.

The man with silver hair introduced himself next. "I'm Sephiroth. I'm the head counselor for this cabin. I also teach fencing."

"I'm Rinoa. Besides being a cabin counselor, I am one of the lifeguards for the pool. So if you're drowning, I'll be there to save you," the other woman spoke, introducing herself.

"My name's Leon. If you have a problem, don't come to me," the final counselor said.

"Alright! Well, we're going to hand out room assignments now. Boys, go see Sephiroth, girls, come with me," Aeris said, leading the girls through the left door.

Sephiroth then lead the boys to the door on the right. Roxas picked up his luggage and followed him. The door lead into a hallway with the doors to the rooms. He could only hope that he had a good roommate.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Riku and Kairi had arrived only a few minutes after Sora and Roxas. As they pulled into the parking lot after hours of driving, all Kairi wanted to do was get out, stretch, and relax. Instead, Riku immediately pulled her into some bushes.

"Riku. What the hell. Care to explain?" she asked, glaring at him.

"We're hiding. See, Sora and Roxas are over there. We need to find the opportune moment to reveal ourselves," Riku answered her.

"Right. Did you even lock the car? Get our luggage? Anything?"

"No...we can get that later?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Look, I'm gonna go get-"

"Shhh...I'm listening," Riku hushed her.

_"...does that even mean?"_

Riku jumped up trying to look as though he  _hadn't_  just been hiding in some bushes, before walking calmly over to Sora to answer him. Kairi decided that she was never going to understand boys. Instead of following Riku, she headed back to the car to get their luggage. Since he was so distracted with surprising Sora, Riku had completely forgotten that they would need to get everything out of the car. They were spending two months there; they'd need their clothes!

But as frustrated as she was, Kairi decided that it was all worth it as soon as she saw Sora's face, beaming with happiness. She dragged the luggage up just as Riku was remarking that he had left her behind in the bushes.

She glared at him good-naturally. "No, I'm here. Thanks for running off like that, Riku. Leave me with the luggage, why don't you?"

"Well, I didn't want to lose Sora..." Riku had the good grace to look somewhat sheepish. She grinned. Kairi wasn't mad at him; she was simply annoyed, though the annoyance had vanished as soon as she had seen Sora.

"I can't believe you guys are  **here**!" Sora exclaimed, still bubbling over with happiness. "This is gonna be the best summer  _ever_! I can't believe you didn't tell me," he finished, pouting slightly. Riku poked him on the lip and Sora mock-glared at him.

"We didn't tell you because it was supposed to be a  _surprise_. And it obviously went well! You had no clue," Kairi told him. She was so happy it had worked out. Summer would have been boring without Sora, and making their attendance at camp a surprise? It guaranteed that at least the  _start_  of camp would be fun and amusing. "So, should we go get our cabin assignments?" she asked.

"I got mine already," Sora told them. "I'm in Harmony Cabin. I hope at least one of you is in it too. I don't want to be all alone..."

Riku handed Kairi her registration form, which included all the little details like cabin assignments and directions to the main buildings, and her Camp Friendship t-shirt.

"Oh, thanks Riku! I hadn't even noticed you had gone to get these." She looked over her paper. "Well, I'm in Affinity Cabin. Sorry Sora."

"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay." Sora looked a bit disappointed. "How about you, Riku?"

Riku was simply grinning at his paper. "It appears that I'm in Harmony Cabin, too."

Sora launched himself at Riku, hugging him ecstatically. "Me too! Yay! I'm not alone!"

Kairi rolled her eyes at the two boys' antics. Riku was ruffling Sora's hair as he held him in a headlock. It was amazing that after all these years, they were still best friends.

"Not to put a damper on this or anything, but don't we have to be at our cabins by a certain time?" she asked.

"Ahh! Yes we do! We're gonna be late for stuff already!" Sora grabbed his bags and started dragging Riku along. "We'll see you later, Kairi!" he called over his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes at them once more before getting her own bag and heading towards the cabins.

She found hers fairly quickly and went in. Affinity Cabin's banner matched her shirt. She was beginning to question the color choices the camp had made. It was a bit...bright.

Kairi was nervous about her room assignment. First of all, she didn't know anyone in her cabin. Hell, she only knew three people at the whole camp!

But she had lucked out. Her roommate was a blond haired girl named Naminé, who was just a few months younger than herself. Naminé seemed really nice, if not a bit quiet, though that was probably from nervousness more than anything else. She hoped they'd continue to get along for the rest of the summer.

Her cabin mates were interesting, to say the least. There was a pink haired man who had brought a bunch of pink flowers with him. He had ended up rooming with a blond boy with a mohawk and an obsession with music.

The counselors with interesting, too. One of them looked young enough to be a camper, with silver "emo" hair combed over his right eye. From what she had seen, though, Zexion (that was his name) seemed to be more of a spazz than any "emo kid" she had ever seen.

Then there was Sora's cousin Cloud, who was about as emotional and interesting as a rock. Kairi's final counselor was a young woman with long brown hair and a penchant for fighting, named Tifa.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Axel was not doing well at camp so far. He'd gotten thrown out of the common room in the first five minutes. Was it really his fault that the couch wasn't fire-resistant?

He had been banished to his room. They had considered not giving him a roommate, but had changed their mind when they realized that then one room would have to have three people.

In the end, he got a roommate, which quickly became his favorite part of camp. Why? Roxas was  **cute**.

He had looked so bewildered when he first entered the room, probably because he thought he didn't have a roommate. Axel had taken the liberty of introducing himself first.

It, er,  _probably_  could have gone better, considering he had accidentally lit Roxas's bag on fire. But Axel had put it out and it had only burnt the strap a little, so Roxas really shouldn't be sitting on his bed glaring at him. Axel didn't really  _mind_  – Roxas had such an adorable "angry face" – but he wanted to know more about him.

"So, uh, Roxas. Tell me about yourself?" Axel began. He really wanted to strike up some conversation with the as-of-yet silent teen.

Roxas continued to glare.

"Oh, come on! It was an accident! I promise not to do it again!" Axel realized that he was whining about bit, but it really  _was_  an accident this time.

"You want to know about me?"

"Yes!" Finally, they were getting somewhere.

"Well, for starters, I don't like people who light  _my stuff on fire_!" Roxas answered, continuing to glare.

Axel could feel his face fall. He pouted at Roxas's stern face, hoping for some sort of change in attitude. He didn't seem to be getting any.

"Uh. Well. Why'd you come to Camp 'Friendship' then?"

"My parents are getting divorced and didn't want my brother and me around."

Eek. Great, he'd picked an awkward, touchy subject.

"How about you?"

Axel did a personal victory dance in his head. Roxas was asking about him! Then he realized that he  _probably_  wasn't going to like the answer.

"The garage burnt down and my parents wanted me gone so they could fix it in peace."

There, it wasn't  _quite_  a lie. Just not the whole truth.

"You burnt it down, didn't you?"

"Well, I  _may_  have had something to do with it..." Roxas was a sharp one. He wasn't going to be able to pull  _anything_  over on this kid.

Roxas smacked his forehead. "And why do I have the feeling that you got kicked out of the common room for a similar reason?"

"Ooooo I didn't think anyone knew about that..."

"Why am I rooming with a pyromaniac? Does someone up there hate me?" Roxas appeared to be questioning the ceiling. Axel was worried for his sanity.

"I'm not a pyro! I just happen to like fire...a lot. It's, uh, pretty." Smooth, Axel,  _real_  smooth.

"My, aren't you a flaming one?" Roxas asked, smirking.

He was snarky. Little Roxas was  _snarky_. Axel was in love. Of course, Roxas was being snarky about  _him_ , but he could forgive him for that. So he settled for just pouting. Not very Axel-like, but he also didn't normally fall head-over-heels for a boy he'd just met. He focused on Roxas, who he had been unknowingly staring at for the past few minutes. He looked a little freaked.

"Look, I'm going to, er, go. I want to find my brother's cabin," Roxas said.

"Ooo, you have a brother! Can I come meet him?" Axel would not pass up a chance to score points with family members. Maybe he could befriend all Roxas's relatives and worm his way into everyone's heart? He'd have to at least tolerate Axel then.

He shook his head, rethinking his strategy. 'Bad Axel, stalking is  **bad**. Mustn't stalk little Roxas; he's a bit freaked out by you already.'

" **No.** "

"Aw, why not?" Axel was disappointed.

"Because I said so. You're not my friend, so why would you want to meet him?"

Ouch. That hurt. Roxas really seemed to have something against fire. He  _probably_  shouldn't mention that he had melted the window shut any time soon. Roxas might freak out at him.

"I promise I'll be good..." Axel smiled like a good little boy. Unfortunately, the look was ruined by the two tattoos under his eyes, the flaming red hair, and the lighter in his pocket.

"Even if I continue to say no you're going to follow me anyway, aren't you?" Roxas sighed. "I  _guess_  you can come, but don't you dare light anyone or anything on fire, okay?"

"I promise," he answered solemnly. 'Score!'

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Sora was having the time of his life. He hadn't been too enthusiastic on the way to camp, but with Riku and Kairi here with him, it couldn't get any better! Actually, it had gotten better after they arrived. Riku was in the same cabin as he, and Kairi's cabin was close by. As long as he had free time to spend with his best friends, his summer would be amazing! No parental supervision...he'd probably get into a lot of trouble...but it would be  **fun**  trouble!

Harmony Cabin had a garish pink and yellow banner welcoming the campers. Maybe the camp needed different colors...that was something he could try to fix this summer! If they threw paint all over everything...

Hmm...

Sora was excited by the prospects.

"Nice banner," Riku commented scarcastically. "I just... _love_  the camp's color scheme."

"Oh, me too," Sora replied.

"We should fix it." Oh yeah, he and Riku  _definitely_  thought alike. If only they could rope Kairi into it...but she was such a goody-two-shoes...

"Exactly what I was thinking! Hopefully it won't be the same colors inside."

"That would suck. And then I'd be afraid that your parents were signing you up for gay camp. Literally," Riku said. Sora grinned. Riku was his smart aleck friend. Well, Roxas was kind of sarcastic and snarky too, but he didn't talk that much. Sora frowned at thoughts of his twin. He had just wandered off without even saying goodbye earlier. While this was a normal Roxas thing to do, Sora was getting worried about him.

Hopefully camp would give him a chance to make friends.

His thoughts were interrupted as Riku began dragging him into the cabin, saying: "I figured you had forgotten how to walk or why you were here, because you just spent the last couple of minutes staring into space."

"I just spaced out a little. Thinking, you know?"

"Well, don't hurt yourself, Sora. If you think too hard you might blow a fuse up there or something."

"You are  _sooo_  mean to me Riku!" Sora pouted, Riku laughed, and they both went into the cabin.

Their counselors were pretty nice, he supposed. The bug-haired lady, Larxene, was one of them. There were also two guys, Xaldin and Xigbar. One of whom taught arts and crafts, which had amused Sora to the point of giggles for the rest of introductions.

He couldn't help it; Xaldin just seemed so proud of his paper cuttings that it was ridiculously stupid and funny.

After introductions, they were given their room assignments. Sora decided that he was the luckiest person on the planet. Not only was he lucky enough to have one of his friends in his cabin, said friend was also his roommate! What were the chances? He was so thrilled he did a little dance. Riku pointed and laughed. Sora didn't mind though, because he was  **happy**! Camp would be  _fun_.

Then an angry Roxas showed up to visit.

Sora didn't even have to ask or be told; he could just  _tell_. It probably had to do with the red-haired boy who was following him.

"This is-" Roxas began, but he was cut off.

"I'm Axel, and it's a pleasure to meet you," he introduced himself. Roxas looked annoyed and nervous.

"He likes to light things on  _fire_ ," Roxas said.

So  _that_  was the problem. This Axel guy had probably lit something in the room on fire and now they were fighting. As much as Sora himself would hate to have his belongings burned, he also forgave accidents. He assumed that that was what this was. At least, he hoped it was an accident.

"It was a complete accident, and I'm really, really sorry," Axel replied, confirming Sora's suspicions.

"And so was burning down your garage and lighting the couch on fire?"

Sora felt the need to jump into the conversation now.

"You burnt down your garage? That is  **so cool**. Is that why you're here? Our reason is so lame compared to that. Has Roxas told you already?"

Axel laughed at him. "So you must be the talkative twin. Sora, right? Though I must say, Roxas is the cuter one."

Sora pouted, Riku chuckled a little, and Roxas blushed.

Wait, hold up. Roxas was blushing?

It was just a light pink tint across his face, but it was there! Sora had never seen  _anyone_  make his brother blush before...actually, no one (except for himself, of course) really bothered Roxas much at all. They mainly ignored him and he stayed away from them. To see him interacting with someone, even someone who appeared to be a flaming pyromaniac, was great. Sora's pout turned into a grin. He'd discuss it with Riku and Kairi later, but right now he had come up with a plan for the summer.


	3. Dinner Fun and Campfire Fighting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo-hoo! We're onto chapter two now everyone! I'm super thrilled about all the feedback I've gotten for this! There are something like 600 views...this is my most viewed fic yet! Yay!
> 
> Anyway, sorry for the long wait. I hope this chapter is long enough to make up for it!

Dinner was an interesting affair. Kairi was sitting between Sora (who was sitting across from Roxas) and Riku. Sitting next to an aggravated looking Roxas was his roommate, Axel. Axel appeared to be the cause of Roxas's aggravation. Kairi could understand though. She'd have been pissed too if her roommate had lit her bag on fire.

Speaking of her roommate, she wondered where Naminé had gone. She had last seen the girl talking to Marluxia, their pink haired cabin mate, about flowers. As quiet as she was, Naminé was fairly good at making friends. She was just so nice that it was impossible to dislike her. Kairi glanced around the camp mess hall, finally spying the blonde, who was still talking to Marluxia.

"...and so, I think that my favorite part of camp is going to be the giant lake. We get to go  _swimming_  and  _boating_  and all sorts of stuff!" Sora was rambling on about the summer plans. "And then we can all push each other off the boats and swim and all sorts of  _other_  stuff!"

"Sora, stop talking. Some of us are trying to eat here," Riku told him. "You might want to try it."

"No, don't encourage him, Riku. He'll just eat  _and_  talk at the same time," Kairi added. Sora did have quite a few bad, immature habits, but that was just part of his charm.

"Mmmffff. I like food. And talking," Sora said around a doughnut. Where did he even  _get_ that? She hadn't even seen those on the table! He just had magical food powers.

"Er, Axel, do you want something?" Roxas asked, looking uncomfortable. Axel had been staring at him the entire meal. That was when she realized something; Axel had developed a little crush on Roxas in the short time they'd known each other. It may not have been obvious to the others, but Kairi was a girl, and girls noticed these things. She thought it was quite sweet, and she was going to do Axel a favor. She and Roxas may not have been the best of friends, but he  _was_  her best friend's brother and that had to mean something. She was going to try to convince Roxas that Axel was not insane nor was he trying to burn down the whole camp, as he was insisting.

"No, I'm just waiting for dessert," Axel answered. Kairi kicked him under the table and he looked at her, confused. She tried to subtly convey  _not_  to come on too hard, as Roxas was still looking a bit freaked out. She hoped her hand symbols made sense. Sora was doing something weird with his hands. He appeared to be imitating closing a sack across his neck, or something to that effect. She'd have to talk to him later about  _not_ scaring away what could be Roxas's only chance for, at the very least, friendship this summer.

Axel seemed to get her hint. He stopped staring at Roxas and instead decided to strike up conversation with Riku, who was trying to calmly eat his baked potato. Riku didn't look like he really wanted to talk to anyone, so Kairi worked her way into the conversation.

"So, Axel, it's really nice to meet you. What are your interests?"

"Oh, I like fire and uh, I hang out with my older brother and his friends a lot. I also trained with chakrams for awhile before the school had to close." Axel looked thrilled that someone wanted to talk to him and not glare at him just for lighting things on fire. She had to give him credit for trying. Sora didn't seem to dislike him, but he was too busy talking to Roxas about something to pay attention. And Riku just didn't like new people. So Kairi decided it was her responsibility to welcome Axel to their group of friends, whether Roxas liked it or not.

"Awesome." She leaned across the table, beckoning Axel closer. "Roxas has never specified one way or the other, so there's a good chance that he 'plays for the other team', if you know what I mean. Just don't be too overbearing or scare him away. And for gods sake don't light any of his other stuff on fire," she whispered to him before leaning back into her seat. Riku glanced at her, slightly confused, but then went back to his potato.

"Is there somewhere we have to go after dinner?" Riku asked. "I could have sworn they told us something, but Sora was being obnoxious, so I don't quite remember."

"I was not being obnoxious! I was just poking you. And asking questions. And pointing at people," Sora said, trying to defend himself.

Kairi sighed. "That would be considered being obnoxious, hun. But don't worry, that's what we love you for."

Sora was pouting again. He tended to do that a lot. It got him anything he wanted from Riku and Kairi.  _Especially_  Riku. But Sora did answer the question.

"There's a big campfire, and everyone's supposed to be there. But maybe if you're just going to be mean to meeee..."

"Fine, fine, Sora, you weren't being  _obnoxious_ ," Riku told him, but then added "but you  _were_  being annoying."

"Yay! ...wait, that's the same thing! You're so mean to me Riku!" Sora looked positively heartbroken. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"You're so over-dramatic, Sora. Riku's just being an asshole," she told him. That got Riku glaring at her. They really were such a fun group. Anyone just observing would be confused. Even though there were three of them, none of them ever seemed to feel like a third wheel. Kairi felt so lucky to have both her boys. She didn't know what she'd do without them. She probably wouldn't be nearly as amused or loved.

"I am not an asshole. I just was telling him the truth," Riku said, defending himself.

"Of course not. You were just acting like one."

"Now I need a hug," Sora whined. Kairi and Riku grinned at each other, and then pounced on him.

"Agh! Hug of death!" he choked out.

Kairi was laughing at him. Roxas and Axel actually looked quite horrified. Then she realized that they were looking at something behind them. She turned around, staring up at a man with long silver hair glaring down at her.

"There will be no 'horsing around' in the mess hall," he said sternly.

"We're sorry, sir," the three said together.

"Do I need to separate you three?"

"No, sir," they answered together again.

"As it is the first day, I think that sufficient punishment will be escorting you three to the campfire. You will do well to behave for the rest of your stay here."

Sora waved bye to Roxas, who looked less-than-thrilled to be left with Axel. Kairi grinned, mouthed 'good luck' to Axel before following the silver haired man out of the mess hall and into the night.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Roxas was horrified. Axel had spent the entire dinner staring at him, which was more than a little disconcerting. Then Sora had tried to distract him by discussing counselors and their weirdness (Sora had a freaky arts and crafts guy obsessed with scissors that Roxas was afraid of just hearing about) but that really didn't help. Especially since Kairi had been whispering something to Axel at the time. Were they planning something? He didn't know and he was a bit afraid of finding out.

Seeing as almost everyone else had cleared out of the mess hall, Roxas decided that it was time to leave. Axel followed him.

"Are your brother and his friends always like that?" Axel asked suddenly.

"What? Oh, yeah. All the time. No one quite understands their relationship. They're so incredibly close and they rarely fight. It's the perfect friendship." Roxas paused to consider the 'relationship' part of their friendship. "But I worry for the day that they decide to date."

"Do they fight over Kairi?" Roxas was a little surprised that Axel remembered their names already. He had just assumed that he would be forgetful and thoughtless.

"I think they will fight over each other. Literally,  _each other_. I'm waiting for the day when I walk in on Sora and Riku making out under the pretense of playing video games. And of course they both adore Kairi and vice versa."

"How do you keep track of all that? It's like a whole high school worth of drama all wrapped up in three people."

By then they were almost at the campfire. "I observe. I don't really have a lot of friends of my own so I spend most of my time at home or they bring me along."

" **Fire**!" Axel exclaimed. They were at the campfire. Oh no...

"Don't you  _dare_  go over there!" Roxas yelled, but Axel had already wandered off towards the large fire. He shook his head and began looking for Sora and his friends. There were just so many people! Why were people actually  _wearing_  that hideous camp t-shirt? The majority of the counselors appeared to share is opinion, though. Most of them looked unhappy in bright pink shirts, especially the guys. Maybe if he looked for silver haired man who had reprimanded them before he would find them?

Success! Sora was loud, Riku's hair stood out, and Kairi was always reprimanding one or the other. They were actually fairly close to him. If only he could make it through the crowd...

He fell over someone.

Oops.

He looked up at a guy with a blond mohawk who appeared to be just as surprised as he was. Roxas was about to apologize when the blond interrupted him.

"I am so sorry! I didn't realize you were trying to get by or I would have moved! Are you okay? Do you need any help? I'm sorry sorry sorry! Oh, and by the way I'm Demyx," he said all in one breath.

Roxas blinked at him, sitting up. "I'm fine, don't worry about it, er, Demyx. I'm Roxas."

"It's nice to meet you! Would you like to sit here or do you need to get back to your friends?"

Roxas was a little surprised. Demyx seemed genuinely friendly, though a bit loud and talkative (not like he didn't have practice dealing with that, what with growing up with Sora and all). "No, I don't think they'll notice. Thanks for offering."

"Yay! So what cabin are you in? I'm in Affinity," Demyx said.

"Comity. I think that my brother's friend is in that cabin, too," Roxas answered.

"Ooo, you have a brother? What's his name?"

"Sora. My cousin's here, too, but he's a counselor. I'm not sure what cabin he's in though."

"What's his name? He may be in mine!"

"Cloud."

"Oh, he  _is_  in mine! I'll tell him that I talked to his cousin at the campfire! Maybe he'll actually talk then...is he always like that?" Demyx was just rambling, causing Roxas to just stare. He may be used to Sora, but this guy was just  _full_  of energy and unending questions.

"Yeah. He doesn't really like to talk to anyone, not even family members."

Demyx was about to say something, but there was a call for silence. The silver haired man from earlier seemed ready to make an announcement of some sort.

"Hello campers! Welcome to your summer at Camp Friendship. I am Xemnas, head counselor and co-owner of this camp. If you do anything wrong, I will be there to stop you and correct you. If you're not having fun, I can fix that! If you need anything, go to Saïx first," he finished, gesturing to a blue haired man standing slightly behind him. "As per tradition, Ansem will be giving an opening speech as well."

Another silver haired man stepped up next to Xemnas. "Those of you returning from previous summers will remember me as the former head counselor. But I have decided to spend more of my time focusing on the wonders of  _darkness_  and less time on you pitiful children who have yet to accept darkness into your hearts! Darkness is everlasting and nothing is great! You must all follow the darkness for it resides in every heart! Without it-"

Xemnas cut his brother off. "I do believe that you're forgetting that  _nothing_  is endless, too. Just pure, empty, nothingness."

Roxas was simply staring at the two in shock. They were insane. His parents had sent him to a camp run by two men who were completely and totally crazy. He was  **not happy**. He never had been too thrilled about camp, but this was the final straw. He had a crazy pyromaniac roommate and mentally challenged counselors. It really couldn't get any worse.

"Yeah, I heard those two were a bit crazy. My roommate was here last year, and they were always arguing about whether darkness or nothingness was better," Demyx whispered to him.

"Does it ever get any better?" Roxas was seriously worried about it being a miserable summer.

"I dunno," Demyx replied. "Depends on whether you make friends or not, I guess. Oh! Will you be my friend?" He looked really hopeful.

"Sure," Roxas answered. "I haven't made any other friends yet."

"Don't you have a roommate?"

"I don't want to talk about-" Roxas began to say, but was cut off as Axel plopped himself down on the log next to him.

"Hi Roxas! Can you believe they made me leave the bonfire?"

"Did you light anything fire?" Roxas asked, sighing. Demyx looked a little confused.

"Someone's hair  _may_  have been in the way of the fire...but I didn't mean to! Some people just need to learn to cut their hair."

Roxas was frustrated. "Then that would explain a lot." He turned to start talking to Demyx again, which Axel noticed.

"Hey, who's your friend?" he asked indignantly.

"I'm Demyx!" Demyx answered for himself. "Who are you?"

"Axel. I'm Roxas's roommate."

"Oh, that's awesome!"

Axel then proceeded to ignore Demyx and talk to Roxas. "Where'd you wander off to? All of a sudden you weren't where I left you!"

"I wasn't going to stand around all night while you played with the fire! I have friends, you know. I wanted to spend time with them!" Roxas added 'and they don't light my stuff on fire' under his breath, but he didn't think Axel heard it.

Demyx was probably feeling awkward and left out, so he turned to talk to him. "So, why'd you come to camp?"

He visibly brightened at Roxas's question. "I flooded my basement! My parents went on vacation for a week and left me by myself. I had always wanted an indoor pool and it seemed like such a good idea..."

Roxas refused to look at Axel, who he was sure was smirking. Why was everyone at this camp destructive? Couldn't there be at least  _one_  normal person?! But Demyx seemed less purposely destructive, and he hadn't done anything to Roxas yet, so he decided to give him a try. "Did it, er, work?"

"Quite well, actually. It barely leaked out the windows at all! We don't keep a lot of sharp and pointy things in out basement, so it didn't hurt, and it wasn't scary to swim around in," Demyx answered.

 _Now_  Roxas was a bit worried. Leaking out the windows? Just how much water had he  _put_  in his basement? He decided it probably would be best not to ask.

Apparently Axel didn't share his opinion. "How'd you get that much water down there?"

"Oh, I just ran the sink and shower down there all day and dragged the hose in and turned it on. I think it took a day, maybe a day and a half, to fill it all."

"That takes so long though! I just burn things," Axel informed him.

Roxas's hand, meet forehead; forehead, hand. 'Why me?' he thought to himself. Just…why?

"Guys..." Roxas tried to interrupt, but they had gotten into an argument over whether fire or water were better. They weren't really arguing, because Demyx was such an easy going person, but it was becoming increasingly obvious that Axel had quite a temper. The last thing that Roxas wanted was to have to break up some sort of a fight.

Demyx instead decided to end it before it even really began, by jumping up and waving at someone on the other side of the campfire.

"I gotta go guys; I'll see you around Roxas!" he called out as ran off, Axel glaring at his back as he left.

"What is your  _problem_?!" Roxas exclaimed once Demyx was out of hearing range. "Are you  _always_  like this? I was finally talking to someone who wasn't completely crazy and you had to come over and ruin it!"

"Oh, so it's okay if he  **floods his entire basement** , but fire is horrible? At least I'm not  _stupid_  enough to try to turn my basement into a  _pool_!" Axel yelled right back.

"So instead you light everything to touch on **fire**!"

"Why do you have such a  _problem_  with me?!"

"Why are  _you_  such a problem?!"

Roxas  _never_  got into yelling matches, except rarely with Sora if he was being particularly obnoxious. Axel was just so **frustrating**. He couldn't stand it. How did he end up with the worst roommate possible?

Axel looked pissed at him. Good. Maybe he'd leave him alone now. Without saying anything else, Roxas got up and left in the general direction of his cabin.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Kairi and Sora were planning something. Riku could just tell, mainly from the look in both their eyes during dinner. He had a feeling that the plan involved poor Roxas and Axel in some way, so he had refrained from questioning them during dinner. Then they had gotten into trouble with Xemnas. So he had yet to find out what was going on. They were currently sitting around a campfire with Sora leading everyone in... _interesting_...renditions of traditional camp songs. He was trying to ignore that.

Kairi was on Sora's other side, looking embarrassed for him. Riku reached around to tap her and get her attention. She moved almost immediately to sit next to him, seemingly happy for an excuse to get away from her embarrassing friend.

"So what are you planning?" he questioned.

Kairi had the good grace to look abashed. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Riku. I'm not planning anything!"

"Yes you are. You have that  _look_  in your eyes," he told her smugly.

"Oh, poo. Well, I would have told you and Sora eventually. I'm going to try to hook Roxas up with his roommate," she answered.

Riku sighed. "Did you even think to ask either of them?"

"Oh I didn't need to ask Axel; it was so obvious that he was mooning over Roxas all of dinner. And Roxas doesn't know what's best for him anyway."

"Also, what do you mean you would have told me and Sora eventually? I thought that Sora was already a part of this."

"Sora's planning something, too?" Kairi looked confused.

"Well, I thought he was. It certainly seemed like it at dinner."

Kairi whacked Sora on the head. "Are you planning something, Sora?"

"Hey!" he whined, pouting. "I was  _singing_. The people were following me and it was  **fun**. You ruined it."

"Suck it up," she told him, laughing. "Riku figured out that we were each planning something."

"What are you talking about? I'm not planning  _anything_..." Sora gave his best innocent face, which he was actually quite good at.

"Yes you are," Riku and Kairi said at the same time.

"Okay, okay, so maybe I am planning something. But it's for his own good. I'm a good person!" Sora insisted.

"Then what are you actually  _doing_?" Riku asked.

"I think that Axel and Roxas would make good friends! So I'm trying to help fix the damage that Axel did. Roxas is real whiner though, did you know that? He doesn't want to forgive anyone for anything!" He looked really unhappy about this.

Riku sighed. As different as the twins were, they were also so similar sometimes. Sora whined about  _everything_ , especially when he wasn't getting his way. Or when he had been discovered doing something he probably shouldn't be. "Just friends, eh? Kairi apparently has different plans," he said, smirking at her.

Kairi in turn glared at him. "I think they would make marvelous friends, Sora. And I talked to Axel about it during dinner." She shot him a glance that said 'don't you  _dare_ mention anything about them hooking up'. Riku could understand her not wanting Sora to know. Hell, if he caught her trying to hook up his brother with a guy...then again, his brother was five years old, so he'd be pretty angry if she was hooking him up with anyone at all.

Thankfully for Kairi, Sora either didn't catch Riku's comment or just didn't understand it. Instead, he looked thrilled at the prospect of working together. "You were planning the same thing? Yay!" Sora exclaimed, and then turned to look at Riku. "Right?"

Riku rolled his eyes. "I  _guess_  I can help you two in your little plan to make Roxas hate you guys."

They both looked at him indignantly. "He'll appreciate it later," Kairi informed him.

"Right now it looks like he's appreciating punching Axel in the face," Riku told her.

"WHAT?!" Sora and Kairi yelled, looking for Roxas in the crowd of people.

"I don't see him," Sora whined. "Where is he?" Then he noticed Riku's grin. "You were  _lying_  to me! Making things up about my brother and scaring me and, and..."

"Your faces were hilarious!" Riku couldn't stop laughing. "You're both so gullible! How did you expect me to even see him in this crowd of people?"

"I...agh. I don't know. You just seemed so serious about it! Don't do that to me," Sora said, giving Riku the ultimate 'cute face'. Damn him, he knew that Riku couldn't resist that face.

"You two..." Kairi rolled her eyes at them. "The campfire is basically over anyway, so let's head back to the cabins like everyone else is doing."

The three got up and followed the large group of campers leaving the area. They headed back towards the cabins together, with Kairi leaving them at her cabin, which was only three away from theirs.

Riku hadn't noticed it while he was having fun with his friends, but by the time Sora and he got to their room, he was tired. He was glad that they had gotten the fighting over beds out of the way earlier, so now they could just collapse into them.

"Riku?" Sora questioned once they were lying in bed.

"Yeah?"

"I really am grateful that you and Kairi came to camp. How did you manage it?"

"We planned, we begged, and we succeeded. It's what friends do."

"Well, thanks."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reviews are lovely. Don't just add this to your alerts and/or favorites without reviewing! It makes for a very sad author. And you don't want that. Do you? D:
> 
> Next time: Demyx chases Zexion and Axel gets Roxas mad. Well, madder, anyway.
> 
> pee ess- I just had to redo all the added things (like bold and italic) because decided to only accept text documents. What's wrong with my Word document? I like it and it's shiny. I just had to go through 11 pages to look for things! And italics like to hide from me.


	4. Swimming and Kisses, oh my

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I...I truly have no excuse for this. I got sick and _way_ behind on homework, so I've had literally no free time until. Junior year is seriously a bitch. But this chapter is pretty long, so I hope that makes up for the long wait. I'm going to try to get updates out quicker from now on, since I have more free time. And I'm in a KH mood because omg Final Mix is making me spazz out like crazy.

Demyx was having the time of his life. It was even better than when he had filled the basement with water to try to make it into a pool. It had worked, surprisingly, and then his parents had come home. Their arrival caused had caused him to fear for his life and his home. They shipped him off to summer camp and told him to take newspaper clippings with him, because he definitely wasn't moving back into their house, so he'd better find an apartment. Damn him for being eighteen and therefore old enough for them to kick him out. But he could ignore all of that because what he had assumed would be a lame camp was so awesomely  **fun**!

The fun had started when he had met his roommate, a pink haired young man named Marluxia. He had been coming to Camp Friendship since he was 12 and in the young half of the camp. Also, he had a love for flowers and had told Demyx that he would teach him how much water to give each of his many flowers. That sounded so  _awesome_!

Then there was dinner. He had met Yuffie, this girl who claimed she was descended from a family of ninjas. She had been dragging along her roommate, a mousy girl named Anna with her nose perpetually in a book. Demyx would have sat with Marluxia, but he had spent dinner chatting it up with another girl from their cabin, who he believed was named Naminé. He hadn't wanted to butt in on his new friend, so he made even more new ones.

He couldn't help it; he just loved meeting new people and making friends. Also, he hated hurting people. Therefore, when he accidentally tripped someone at the campfire, he couldn't stop himself from apologizing over and over, and then inviting Roxas – the guy he had tripped – to sit with him.

Roxas was a bit quiet, but he listened well and seemed pretty friendly. His cousin was actually one of Demyx's cabin counselors, which was pretty cool. It had all been going well until Axel, Roxas's roommate, came over. That had ended as a bit of a disaster...

He wasn't going to think about that anymore because it was totally  **not fun**. Demyx had instead come up with a project for the summer; befriend the quiet, yet somewhat of a spazz, counselor, Zexion. Demyx had been drawn to him as soon as he had set foot in the cabin; he always reached out to the quiet ones to encourage them to have friends. He had two of the least emotional people  _ever_  for his counselors, but he had decided that Tifa seemed to have Cloud covered. So it was his job to get Zexion to open up!

It would be much easier if Zexion would actually talk to him, as opposed to just reading the paper and eating his muffin.

Demyx had made the first move at breakfast by sitting with Zexion. He had been sitting by himself last night, and that just would not do. Unfortunately, Zexion hadn't really acknowledged Demyx's presence. He had simply continued what he had been doing before. So, Demyx knew what he had to do- strike up conversation.

"I'm Demyx!" he announced cheerfully, deciding that it was best to start with the basics.

The lilac-haired boy across from him raised an eyebrow. "Congratulations," he said sarcastically.

Demyx would not be put off by his cruel sarcasm! "Thanks!"

He grinned at the slightly surprised look on Zexion's face. Yay, he was getting somewhere! Now, if he could subtly get Zexion to talk about himself...

"Why are you here?" he asked Demyx.

"Because you needed a friend," he answered honestly. "And I love making friends, and you just looked so lonely and you needed one! And I think you'd be interesting and fun but you have to talk more and stuff."

Zexion looked really thrown at that, but instead saying anything, he went back to the paper. Demyx glared at the paper. It couldn't really be  _that_  interesting, so he took it from him and earned himself a glare.

"I was reading that."

"Yeah, and ignoring  **me**! You have to learn to talk to people! It's what camp is all about: friendship!" Demyx exclaimed happily, enjoying giving his little friendship speech.

Zexion took this opportunity to retrieve his paper.

Demyx noticed and took it back.

Thus began game of "steal the paper" that lasted for the rest of breakfast. Demyx was laughing from the whole time, and he could have sworn he saw Zexion  _almost_  smile. Even if it was just a hint of a thought of a slight smile, it was better than before.

"What am I supposed to be doing today?" Demyx asked Zexion. "I wasn't paying attention this morning when we were told."

"You're in my group. We're swimming," he answered.

"Yay!" Demyx exclaimed, hugging the shorter boy, who immediately stiffened.

"Don't touch me," Zexion hissed.

Demyx frowned.  **Everyone**  loves hugs, right? Apparently Zexion didn't, so he released him unhappily.

"Thank you."

"Sorry, Zexy, I didn't know you disliked hugs," Demyx said apologetically.

"Just don't do it again," Zexion began, and then stopped. "Did you...did you just call me  _Zexy_?"

"Yep! I think it's an appropriate nickname for you!"

"...why?"

"Because it's easier for me to say, duh. Zexion is just too...long. And difficult. So I made it easy!" Demyx answered.

"I don't like it."

Zexion may not like hugs, but Demyx was not going to give up his nickname for him. It was a good nickname! Besides, he had already promised not to hug him and that was pretty difficult for Demyx, so he reasoned that Zexion owed him this.

"But I  _do_. Please? I won't even hug you if you say yes!"

"..." Zexion was ignoring him again. Silly Zexy, it wasn't like he was going to leave him alone. When he got an idea in his head, he would follow it through. That was just the Demyx way.

As they walked past their cabin, Demyx realized that he had to stop in and get his swimming trunks.

"Wait here Zexy, I'll be right back! I forgot my swimming stuff!" he called over his should, running inside.

By the time he got back out, Zexion had left. Demyx frowned. This was not going so well. It seemed that Zexion just didn't want to be friends, and that made Demyx sad. He'd just have to catch up with him at the lake.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Zexion was a bit freaked. This was his first summer as a counselor and he realized that he should have waited a year or so. He was only about a year older than a lot of the campers and looked younger than most of them. He couldn't help that he was shorter than them, which in turn made him look young.

Still, he had managed to survive the first day by locking himself in his room as soon as room assignments were over. He had tried to avoid the campfire, but apparently counselors were required to attend.

This morning, he had just wanted to read the paper in peace, but that wasn't going to happen. One of the campers in his cabin had decided to sit with him. Not wanting to argue, Zexion had tried to ignore the boy. Unfortunately for Zexion, since the boy  _had_  sat down, he had done nothing but talk and talk and then question him.

Instead of a calm and peaceful breakfast, he ended up playing "keep away" with his paper. Was it really so hard to get a moment to himself to read? He knew that counselors were supposed to be "hands on" and all that, but he just wanted to get some alone time.

The camper, Demyx, had insisted on following Zexion to the lake. Granted, they were going to the same place, but it still bugged him. When they were about to pass the cabin, Demyx stopped and went running towards it, saying something about forgetting his swimsuit or something like that.

Zexion took the opportunity to run.

'This is ridiculous,' he thought to himself. 'I told him to go away, he wouldn't  **listen** , and now I'm  _hiding_  from him. I really shouldn't have been a counselor. Even that job at Bath and Body Works probably would have been better than this.'

When he arrived at the lake, he went looking for Tifa, who was supposedly in charge of all the swimming activities. He was fairly certain he could recognize her (she  _was_  a fellow cabin counselor) but he was horrible at finding people.

Apparently people weren't horrible at finding him, because Demyx came running over at that moment.

"Why'd you run off? I asked you to wait for me!" Demyx said unhappily.

"I had counselor things to do," he answered, the lie rolling easily off his tongue.

"Why didn't you just say so? I thought you had tried to lose me or something!"

At this, Zexion had a sinking feeling in his stomach, but he shook it off, reminding himself that he didn't care about this annoying camper. He just wanted to get rid of him.

"Are you gonna swim too?"

Zexion simply glared at the boy, shaking his head. He didn't swim. It just wasn't something he did. Besides, he was supposed to help Tifa and he couldn't do that while in the lake.

"Aw...are you sure? It'd be so  **fun**!" Demyx exclaimed, and then added, "I love swimming."

"Yes. I have a job to do," Zexion stated before walking off, as he had finally spotted Tifa.

After listening to the list of things he had to do from Tifa, Zexion almost wished that he  _had_  just joined Demyx in the lake. Instead, he had to test the young campers (regardless of if they had been to camp before) and the older ones who had never come before to see who could swim past certain buoys and such. He was about halfway through with the young group when a familiar voice started rambling in his ear.

"Zexy! I found you again! Oh, are you doing the swim tests? Can I help? I just did mine a little ago and I passed! I can go out as far as I want! So can I help? Please?"

Demyx talked more than anyone he knew. Zexion just wanted to ignore him, but he just  _kept talking_ , going on and on about the most trivial things.

"Fine, just watch them and make sure they don't drown, okay? I'm going to time them," he said, giving in, and then called out to the campers waiting to be tested: "Everyone from Kinship Cabin, in the water!"

Happy screams of children greeted his ears, which was not something he enjoyed hearing. They were high-pitched and obnoxious, and he was still questioning why he had decided that being a camp counselor was a good summer job.

Then Zexion noticed that Demyx had jumped right in too. 'He's actually going to take helping out seriously...that's quite surprising,' he thought to himself.

"Does everyone in the water know how to tread water?" he asked.

He was met with a chorus of yeses, one of which came from Demyx. He sighed. This was going to be a  _long_  day.

"Good. This part of the test requires that you tread water in place for a minute. I'll tell you when to begin." Zexion fiddled with his timer, trying to get it to work again. Apparently they weren't too big on working technology there.

"Is everyone ready? Good. Start in three, two, one...go," he said unenthusiastically. As he looked over everyone to make sure they were treading water properly, Zexion noticed that Demyx was too.

"I thought you tested already," he said lightly.

"Yep! I just wanted to do it again for fun!" Demyx exclaimed happily. "I love being in the water. Though that's what got me sent here in the first place..."

He didn't want to know. He honestly didn't. But for some reason, he asked anyway. "What?"

"It's kinda a long story..." Demyx said. "Has it been a minute yet?"

"Huh? Oh! Yeah.  **Everyone**! Time's up, you all passed," Zexion said, embarrassed at getting distracted by talking to  _Demyx_. Anyone else,  _anyone at all_ , would have been better, but no. It just had to be Demyx.

"Just...swim laps up and down the dock or something unless Tifa tells you to do something else," he told the campers.

"Don't wander off or go out very far because then the 'lake monster' will get you," Demyx added in a creepy voice. "It likes young children..."

Small children were suddenly screaming and running and jumping in the water to escape the horrid 'lake monster' they were convinced was real, just because an older camper had told them so. Zexion sighed. Long day indeed.

Demyx plopped himself down in the grass and patted the spot next to him, motioning for Zexion to sit. Seeing as he really didn't have anything else to do (and he  _had_  asked him about how water had gotten him sent to camp), he sat down.

Zexion regretted it, because Demyx immediately started babbling about filling his basement with water or something like that. His mind began to wander until one little snippet of Demyx's rambling stuck out in his mind.

"...and so they sent me here and kicked me out, so I don't really have anywhere to live when camp ends..."

"Wait. They kicked you out?" Zexion asked.

"Yep. Told me that since I was eighteen, I had to take responsibility for my actions, and that included not having a home to come back to. I can get my stuff, but I have to find an apartment."

"Then why come to camp?"

"More punishment, I think. Either that or one last bit of kindness," Demyx answered.

"You can't find an apartment while you're at camp. What do they expect you to do?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I think I may be able to stay with a friend or something until I find one," he said.

Zexion couldn't believe he was sitting here, talking to Demyx, and now he was about to offer him advice. He sighed. How was it still only 10 o'clock?

"I'd suggest apologizing to them and asking if you can stay until you find an apartment. Have you tried making it up to them somehow?"

"Yeah...sort of. But my parents refused to even talk to me, so it was really difficult..." Demyx paused. "It's okay though, because now I get to have fun at summer camp and make new friends!"

How could one person be so positive? It was amazing. Zexion was about to say something in compassion, when Demyx enveloped him in a hug. He stiffened.

"Demyx. What did I say about hugging me?"

"Don't do it?"

"Exactly."

"But I wanted to! Really bad, because you're actually talking and listening for once! Before you just sat there and glared at me. But I think you're warming up now!" Demyx said happily.

Zexion could feel himself blushing slightly. This was a problem. He did  _not_  blush. Also, Demyx was still hugging him.

"Could you, uh, let me go?" he asked.

'Must stop blushing. Must stop blushing. Must stop blushing,' Zexion repeated over and over in his head.

Demyx finally let go of him and Zexion relaxed. He wasn't used to people touching him and Demyx...well, Demyx had been pushing him to the limit with the touching. He just wasn't comfortable around people.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Roxas was still pissed when he woke up. Yesterday had sucked. It had been going so marvelously until he had met his roommate, and it had truly gone downhill from that point onward.

Thankfully, Axel wasn't awake yet. Roxas quickly changed out his pajamas and almost sprinted to the room's door, hoping that he could get out of his room before he woke up and/or noticed him.

No such luck.

"Roxas?" Axel questioned, sitting up groggily.

"No, I'm Sora. Yes, it's me," Roxas snapped. "What do you want?"

"Nothing if you're going to be a whiny little bitch," he snapped back.

"Good."

Roxas was somewhat relieved and pleased that Axel was still angry. It was easier to be mad at someone who was mad at you, and Roxas  _wanted_  to dislike Axel. He knew he was being a bit unreasonable, but he had been so frustrated the day before and Axel had been the icing on the cake. Any other time, he  _may_  have given the guy a chance, but camp had just put him in a bad mood.

He was almost out of the room when Axel grabbed his wrist and pulled him back in, causing Roxas to squeak in surprise. He glared up at the much taller boy, cursing himself for being so short. Roxas wanted to yell and complain, but he just couldn't seem to think of the right thing to say.

"We're going to work this out now," Axel said firmly.

"No, we're going to go to breakfast now, and you're going to let go of me," Roxas answered in frustration.

Axel didn't let go, instead he pulled Roxas over to sit down next to him on one of the beds.

"You have some sort of problem with me or something. What is it?" he questioned. He began to answer, but was cut off. "And don't you dare say it has to do with me lighting your bag on fire, because it definitely seems to go deeper than that."

Roxas glared, but tried to gather his thoughts. "I don't know," he finally answered truthfully, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "I just...agh. I didn't want to be here, and I was trying to find anything that could possibly be wrong with it. And then I got the crazy roommate who lit my bag on fire, and that pissed me off a bit."

"It was an  _accident_ ," Axel stressed. "I honestly didn't mean to. Sure, other times I've meant to light things on fire, but that time was purely accidental."

"Still..."

"Can we at least call a truce?" Axel pleaded. "We're going to be together for two months, so we may as well not fight."

"I guess," Roxas conceded. "But I just don't understand. I've been nothing but mean to you this entire time and you're still willing to put it behind us and call a truce? You're a much better person than I originally thought."

Axel was positively beaming. "Never judge a book by its cover, little Roxas. But I do have one condition: you have to forgive me."

"For lighting my bag on fire? Sure, just don't do it again," he said. Finally, something was going right. Camp would  _definitely_  be less stressful if he wasn't fighting with his roommate.

"No, for this," Axel answered, leaning over and kissing Roxas lightly on the lips.

Roxas blinked. It took him a second to register what had just happened. Then he punched Axel in the face.

"What the  **fuck**  was that?!" he yelled at Axel, who was holding a hand to his face in pain.

"A kiss?" he answered a bit fearfully. Roxas glared.

"What the...agh! You actually had me convinced that you were a halfway decent person for a moment there. You  _asshole_ , what the fuck were you  _thinking_?!" He was pissed beyond belief. Who did Axel think he was, kissing him like that?! Now he knew that he had been right when he had called him flaming the day before, not like it was much consolation  **now**.

"I did say you were the cute twin..." Axel trailed off, looking deep in thought.

"I don't  **care**! Don't...just  _don't_  do it again," Roxas snapped and left, this time without being stopped.

By the time he arrived at breakfast, Roxas had calmed down slightly, though he was still quite angry. He plopped violently down next to Sora, who looked at him in shock.

"Are you...angry about something?" he questioned Roxas.

" **No** ," he barked shortly.

Roxas noticed that Sora almost jumped away in fear. Good. He was in a really bad mood still, and he didn't want to talk about it. He started attacking his breakfast (a blueberry muffin) violently with his butter knife.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Kairi had been enjoying her breakfast (though she was wondering why all they had were muffins), talking and laughing with Riku and Sora. Then suddenly, Roxas came stomping in angrily and sat down across from her. When question as to what was wrong, he snapped a short 'no' to Sora and commenced attacking a muffin. Something had to have happened.

She looked across at Roxas with a knowing expression that she was sure that he really didn't like.

"Did it involve Axel?" she questioned softly, so as to not freak him out or make him even angrier. Kairi was fairly certain that it did, but she had to know for sure.

Roxas looked at her sharply, and then looked away. She now had no doubt that whatever had happened, Axel had been involved, and she had to know what it was.

"What did he do?" she prodded.

" **Nothing.**  I don't want to talk about it," Roxas answered, returning to his food to signal that the conversation was over.

Kairi rolled her eyes. Boys were impossible. Thankfully, her two best friends were boys and therefore, they could help her. They'd already decided on that last night, but she was going to put her plan into motion.

"Riku. Psst, Riku," she leaned to the boy sitting next to her and whispered at him. "We need to figure out what happened."

"No,  _you_  need to figure out what happened," he whispered back. "I want no part in starting your gay love-fest."

She pouted at him and leaned even closer, hoping that she could rely on Riku being male to help her get her way.

"Please?" she begged, grinning as she saw a rare blush lightly color Riku's cheeks.

"Fine. Just, fine. I'm not doing any sort of weird spying things, but I will talk to Axel if you'd like," Riku finally consented.

"Yay! Thank you!" She hugged him for his troubles and returned to her breakfast.

Roxas had just finished eating and got up to leave, but Kairi stopped him, saying: "I'll fix things, okay?"

He just glared and walked off.

"Alright, something happened and it probably involves Axel," Kairi stated. "And our goal is to figure out just what that is."

Sora was squirming in his seat.

"Yes Sora?" she asked.

"Is Roxas gonna get mad at us?" he questioned.

"Probably for awhile," Riku answered.

"But it's for his own good!" she defended. "Didn't you say the same thing?"

"Well, yeah...but I was just checking. What's our 'master plan'?" Sora asked, stressing 'master plan' like it was a deep, dark, secret.

"First we need to find Axel, because I'm fairly certain that we're not getting anything more out of Roxas. Then we're gonna question him until he snaps!" Kairi announced.

"Or until he lights us on fire," Riku added, smirking.

"He is not going to light us on fire. He told Roxas he wouldn't," she said.

"And you believe it?"

"Yes. I don't think he'd purposely anger Roxas," Kairi answered.

Sora was looking a bit lost. "I feel like I missed something important here, guys. I thought we just wanted Roxas to have a friend."

'Crap crap crap' repeated in Kairi's head. She glared at Riku, who was silently laughing at her.

"Uh...I don't know what you're talking about?" she tried.

"I'm not  _that_  stupid," Sora began, but was interrupted by Axel sitting sadly down at the table next to him.

"I fucked up," he said into the table.

Kairi couldn't believe it. The drama had abounded and it was only breakfast. She felt bad for Axel though, as he looked absolutely miserable and rejected sitting there, staring forlornly at the half a muffin Roxas had left behind.

"How?" she asked, careful not to scare him off.

Axel mumbled something under his breath that she couldn't understand.

"What was that?"

"I dun wanna talk about it," he mumbled.

Sora started poking Axel's hair, completely amused by it. Axel didn't even notice.

"What are you doing?" Riku finally asked.

"It's bright red and pointy! It was amusing and I couldn't resist!" Sora exclaimed.

Riku snorted into his milk. Kairi slapped her forehead. Sora was a moron and sometimes had no idea what he was saying. This just happened to be one of those many times.

"Look, we're going to keep bugging you all day until you finally give in," she told Axel. "So just get it over with."

"Is Sora as keen on punching people in the face as his twin is?" Axel queried.

"I don't punch people! Violence is wrong," Sora answered solemnly.

Kairi was practically on the edge of the bench she wanted to know so badly. "So...?" she prodded.

"I'd just like to preface this by saying that it seemed like a good idea at the time..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review if you want, because it would make me smile! And improve my mood on this dreary Pittsburgh day.
> 
> Next time: Axel and Roxas are still fighting, which involves Roxas threatening Axel's life. And Sora is in serious denial about his brother's sexuality.


	5. Cut the Paper, not the People

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow guys, I totally didn't mean for this to be so late. But I had to get all my homework done so I could go to an anime convention this past weekend and that took up all of my time. It was so amazing too, considering that **I got Final Mix**! It's beautiful and I bet you're all jealous ;D
> 
> Oh, and this is only partially beta'd. My friends at school have been pressuring me to post this, so I didn't do too much editing. Whoops.

Riku was having an interesting morning so far. Sure, it had started off normal enough, but that had changed fairly quickly. First, Roxas had come in and been angry and bitchy. Shortly after he left, Axel had showed up and been basically the exact opposite: sad and rejected. Kairi, of course, had wanted to find out what had gotten the two into their respective moods, and had been interrogating Axel until he finally conceded.

"We were finally getting along and I couldn't help it..." Axel was saying.

"So what did you do?" Kairi pressed.

Axel mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like 'kiss' and 'Roxas'. Riku mentally smacked his forehead. This was going to end badly.

"I can't understand what you're saying. Talk to us, not the table," Kairi said.

"I...er, I kissed him...?" Axel finally suggested.

Sora looked absolutely horrified. Kairi slapped herself on the forehead. Riku rolled his eyes. This was going to be  _quite_  a drama filled summer.

"You  **what**?!" Sora and Kairi yelled at the same time.

"What were you thinking?!" Kairi continued to yell. "No  _wonder_  he was pissed! I'm pissed too!"

Sora had gone back to looking horrified, but it was now mixed with anger. He was not normally a violent person, but now he was glaring at Axel in a way that even Riku himself was a bit fearful of.

"Obviously, I wasn't," Axel snapped. "If you're just going to bitch at me, I'm leaving." He then grabbed the blueberry muffin half and left.

"That could have gone better," Riku said, breaking the awkward silence that had descended on the table.

Kairi glared at him. "You can keep your opinions to yourself."

"Well, it definitely could have."

At this point, Riku decided that they had somehow managed to break Sora. He was just staring, horrified, in the direction that Axel had left.

"My brother isn't gay!" Sora yelled out all of a sudden, causing everyone in the cafeteria to stare at him.

Riku and Kairi promptly pushed his head down to avoid him being noticed too much.

"As marvelous as it is that everyone now knows that, I don't think that you really  **needed**  to announce it," Riku told Sora. "Since now I'm sure they believe the  _opposite_."

"Why? Why would they do that?!"

"Because if you have to announce it then they're obviously going to wonder why you even need to say it in the first place."

"But...stupid people," Sora finished, pouting.

"Breakfast is  **over**  children! You are going to be late to your first activities!" the cook, Vexen, announced.

Riku, Sora, and Kairi all got up and left, Sora bringing another muffin along with him. Kairi waved, heading to the left towards the lake for swimming, as Sora and Riku headed slightly right to the fencing area.

"Today sucks," Sora said, still pouting. "Roxas's roommate is going to seduce him!"

Riku rolled his eyes. "Does it really matter? If you really think Roxas isn't gay then Axel's not going to have any effect on him. Seriously, were you even paying attention at breakfast? Roxas was pissed out of his mind."

"But...that's why I'm worried! Whenever Roxas is  _really_  mad he's just silently pissy. He's almost never like this...I don't even know what it means when he's like this!" Sora exclaimed.

"Then why worry? I'm sure it'll all work out in the end," Riku told him. "Besides, you're going to need to concentrate because we're here now."

"Fencing? I love fencing! It's awesome that we're doing this today!" Sora exclaimed.

"Sora...were you even paying attention this morning before breakfast when they told us where to go?"

"Maybe?"

Riku sighed. Awesome friend he may be, but Sora was about as clueless as a rock. Any other thoughts he would have had on this subject were cut short though, as they had arrived at the clearing where fencing would be held.

"This is fencing and I'm your instructor, Sephiroth. Today, I should have boys from Comity and Harmony Cabins. If that doesn't apply to you, then get out of my sight," their instructor announced. He had long silver hair that reminded Riku vaguely of his own.

Riku noticed Sora staring in one direction. He followed his line of sight and saw Roxas glaring at Axel. 'Oh great,' he thought. 'This'll be interesting.'

"You will be sparring with your roommate. This is simple and it's not going to change, so don't ask," Sephiroth told them. "Now come over here and get your weaponry. Today we'll be using these dull wooden swords so that you won't hurt each other. Much."

Sora was pulling on Riku's sleeve. "Riku I think Roxas is going to become a murderer," he said worriedly.

He rolled his eyes. "He can't kill him with a wooden sword."

"I don't like Axel anymore, but he doesn't deserve to be killed! Maybe we can trade off?"

"You want to go talk to Sephiroth?" Riku asked, and Sora shook his head no. "Then we'll let the two work it out themselves."

After what seemed like an hour of instructions, they were finally allowed to begin sparring by practicing their guards. Sora continued to glance over at Roxas, who appeared to be trying to decapitate Axel.

Riku shook his head, sighing and blocking Sora's attack. Their body language the night before had been tense, and as he continued to watch them, Riku realized that they practically screamed sexual tension. He hoped the two would just fuck already and get it over with so that everyone else could relax in peace.

He glanced over once more to see Roxas pointing his sword at Axel's throat and lecturing him. Apparently there'd be a bit more tension for awhile.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Axel's morning officially  _sucked ass_. There had been  _one_  high point, but he had gotten punched in the face for that. And now he was in a fencing lesson, trying to avoid Roxas decapitating him. He was actually quite afraid for his life.

"I am mad at you," Roxas said sharply, sword pointed at Axel's throat. "Don't. Do. That. Again."

Axel held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm not gonna do it again, calm down." He paused, and then added, grinning, "unless you want me to of course."

That was apparently the wrong answer, as Roxas continued to glare at him.

"I would  _not_  want you to do it again."

No one had ever said that Axel knew when to stop, and this was just another example of his inability to know limits.

"You sure you didn't enjoy it?"

"I did  _not_  enjoy it. I am not gay and you are a freak," Roxas gritted out.

"You sure about that?" he asked.

"Yes! I like girls! Boobs!  **Boobies**!" he answered, getting louder throughout the sentence. A few pairs around them stared in confusion.

"If you like girls so much, then when's the last time you had a date with one?" Axel questioned.

Roxas glared, refusing to answer.

"You haven't ever considered you might not be straight as a stick?"

This time Roxas  _did_  answer. " **No.** "

"Talk about not being open to being different," Axel responded, sighing in frustration. "Tell me: if you really don't think that you, er, 'play for the other team', then why are you so hung up on this?"

Axel was not expecting the sudden attack at his life in response to his question. He thanked his quick reflexes in parrying the move, but he was not going to underestimate Roxas anymore. Unfortunately, he wasn't quick enough to prevent Roxas from slamming him against a tree, sword held against his throat.

"Don't talk to me. Ever again. I don't want to hear a word from you. I don't care if we're roommates. The cabin could be burning down for all I care, but I'd better not hear about it from you," Roxas said coldly, and then backed up and allowed Axel to breathe again. "Just stay away from me."

Axel stared as Roxas walked away, obviously not caring that he was ditching the class. He was a bit afraid and shocked, and finally decided that Roxas had to be bipolar or something. Sure, the blond had been angry before, but it had been a hot kind of anger. This had been cold and cruel.

He decided that he'd honor Roxas's request. Besides, he didn't want to be on the receiving end of that anger anymore. He'd just have to make new friends.

Axel frowned. He was disappointed. There had only been one person he wanted to be friends with, and they now weren't speaking. He knew he shouldn't be feeling as dejected as he was – hell, he had just met the moody blond the day before – but it hurt  _deeply_  and he wasn't sure why. He sighed, running a hand through his hair. Sephiroth was coming over and now he was going to have to come up with some way to cover for Roxas.

He ignored the voice in the back of his head questioning why he was helping someone who had just treated him like that, not wanting to worry about it too much at the moment.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Sora didn't understand anything that was going on anymore. Camp had been going fine the night before. Roxas had a roommate who seemed genuinely interesting in being his friend, and Sora was thrilled. Roxas needed more friends.

The campfire had been fun and awesome. He had been singing cheesy camp songs, just like they do in the movies, with Riku and Kairi at his sides. What could be better than having your best friends with you?

Apparently, they had discovered his plans to ensure Roxas a friendship, and Kairi was especially happy to help. Riku seemed a bit indifferent to the whole thing, but that was just how Riku was.

Sora had gone to bed the previous night happy and excited for two months of fun. He was so lucky to be rooming with one of his best friends and everything was going good.

Then it was breakfast time and it all came crashing down. Roxas had come into the cafeteria practically  _oozing_  anger. Sora was a little worried by that, but he couldn't get his brother to talk about it.

Sora was by nature a positive person, and he knew that Roxas couldn't stay angry forever. So he brushed it off as he watched his twin leave the cafeteria in a huff.

But it got worse. Axel had arrived next and he looked completely devastated by something. Sora, being a concerned friend, had wondered what was wrong.

He wished that he hadn't found out. Sora wanted Axel to be Roxas's  _friend_ , not to kiss him! His brother was straight like a stick, just like himself. He  _knew_  it. He had the sinking feeling that Kairi didn't agree with him, but she'd be proven wrong.

As mad as Sora was, he had been worried for Axel's life during fencing. Roxas looked like he was ready to commit a murder. In the end, Roxas had just lectured a fearful looking Axel and then left.

Sora decided that the best plan of action was to ignore the problem. This actually worked quite well, as he didn't have any other activities with either Roxas  _or_  Axel until later that week. He was instead lucky enough to be with either Riku or Kairi (and in one, her roommate, Naminé) for almost every activity. The one that he  _didn't_  have with them was instead with a dirty blond named Demyx, and they got along so well! Camp was all kinds of awesome.

He had spent archery - his activity with Demyx - discussing various plans of action with the older boy. What for? Well, they were both trying to do the near-impossible. One of Demyx's counselors, Zexion, was the quiet, loner type and Demyx was trying to befriend him. Sora had all  _sorts_  of advice for that, as Riku had been the same way when they had first met. In turn, Demyx had advice for getting Roxas to at least be able to  _stand_  Axel.

So far, none of them had worked. Roxas was refusing to even go  _near_  Axel, except when he was in his room. It didn't look good.

Sora knew that he was pretty oblivious and naïve most of the time, but he  _did_  notice things. And he noticed that he normally quiet brother was being even more quiet than ever, and almost constantly had a perplexed expression on his face. But any time he questioned him, Roxas would shrug it off, saying it was nothing.

He wasn't sure if Roxas and Axel had had any activities together, but if they had, it hadn't done anything to improve the mood. The tension between them was stifling! Sora couldn't understand how they managed to live with it.

It wasn't until Friday that he saw how the two interacted during an activity they had together.

Sora had been both excited for and fearful of this activity all week. Why? It was arts and crafts day for him and Riku. The main counselor for it? The crazy stabbity Xaldin.

His mood brightened considerably when he saw Demyx sitting at one of the tables already, next to a pink haired boy that was probably his roommate. When Demyx spotted him, he started waving Sora over to the table.

"Come on Riku, let's go sit with him! He's my friend!"

"Sora, you say that about  _everyone_ ," Riku replied, but followed anyway.

"That's because they all  _are_! I love people," he said. "Hiya Demyx! Who's your friend?"

"This is Marluxia! He's my roommate and he grows flowers! They're awesome!"

"Yay!" Sora replied, but looked at the older boy questionably. He was cutting roses out of pink paper. Huh. Sora was tempted to question his sexuality, when Kairi and Naminé arrived, the blonde seating herself next to Marluxia.

"Sora! Riku! I didn't realize that you two were in this activity, too! This is great," Kairi said, beaming at them happily.

"This is my favorite day ever!" he exclaimed in reply.

And then Roxas and Axel showed up.

They came in separately, of course, as they weren't speaking. Axel sat at a table near them and waved at Demyx, who immediately went to go sit with the red head. Roxas, on the other hand, sat off on his own at the far end of the room.

Sora was about to go sit with him when Xaldin began to speak.

"Welcome to arts and crafts my campers! I am Xaldin, and this is my assistant, Aeris. As long as you follow the simple rules, we should have a fun summer of artly fun together!"

Aeris then passed out a piece of paper with the rules printed on them to all the campers. Sora took a moment to read it over.

_Arts & Crafts Rules:_

_1\. No horseplay, especially when holding sharp objects._

_2\. There will be_ no _eating while in this activity. This_ includes _the art supplies, such as paint and glue._

_3\. Do not throw the scissors._

_4\. Only cut things that are_ meant _to be cut, like paper._

_5\. Fellow campers are your friends. Do not cause them bodily harm._

_6\. Above all have fun. Safe fun does not include anything sharp and/or pointy._

Sora had the sinking feeling that the majority of these rules applied not to the campers themselves, but instead to the counselors. Specifically, the counselor in  _charge_  of the activity itself. Sora would have to thank Aeris later for compiling the list of rules, because he knew there was no way that Xaldin had done it.

"Today's project will involve paper cutting! We'll be making chains of people," Xaldin announced, holding up a hot pink piece of paper that had been cut into a chain of what looked like...pretty princesses? Sora didn't want to know. The counselors at this camp probably all came from the crazy house.

"Once you've completed two chains, you may do something else," Aeris said, and then added: "Please don't cut anything but the paper."

Yep. Crazy house, all of them.

It took him close to half an hour, but Sora had finally completed his chains. Riku had, of course, finished within the first ten minutes. He was just good at everything. Kairi had finished at around the same time, but that was because she was a girl. They could just do these things.

He grinned proudly at the chains sitting on the table in front of him. They weren't the best - that award went to Marluxia and his various flower chains - but they were done. Maybe he hadn't originally planned on them being headless...or deformed...or uneven, but they were done!

Sora decided to see how Roxas was doing, and wandered off to his table. Halfway across the room, he was struck with the idea to sneak up on his brother. He quietly snuck to the edge of the room and edged along the walls until he was near Roxas's table.

He was about to pounce when he happened to glance at the paper Roxas was absentmindedly doodling on. Sora's eyes widened slightly in shock. He had known that Roxas was fairly talented, but this...it was a near perfect rendition of Axel talking animatedly with Demyx. Demyx was left unfinished, barely more than a sketch, but Axel...

Without even realizing that he was doing it, Sora leaned forward to get a closer look, brushing against Roxas's shoulder as he did so. The blond practically leapt out of his seat. He then hurriedly grabbed at the papers, hiding them from Sora's view.

"Sora, what are you trying to  _do_?! Give me a heart attack or something?" Roxas asked, annoyed.

"What were you drawing?" he asked, curious.

Roxas blushed. "Nothing."

"Yes you were! I saw..."

"It's  _nothing_. Do you want something?"

Sora didn't like it when Roxas was like this. It meant that he was angry about something and didn't want to talk about it.

"You know you can always talk to me, right?"

"Sora...there's nothing  _to_  talk about."

"Well, I think there is. My twin senses tell me so!"

Roxas rolled his eyes. "You're a moron. There's no such thing as 'twin senses'."

"Don't lie to me! I know there are and you're just being a fun-sucker," Sora replied, pouting. The pout threatened to turn into a grin though, as he had finally gotten Roxas to laugh.

"Fun-sucker? How do you come  _up_  with this stuff, Sora?"

"It's because I'm special. Don't be jealous."

"Oh, you're special alright. Special like a crazy person."

"You're soooo mean Roxas! I'm going back to my friends who are actually  _nice_  to me!"

"Like Riku, who you just called a 'big fat meanie' at breakfast the other day?"

Sora mock-glared as he went back over to his own table, waving as he sat down. Roxas rolled his eyes again and Sora grinned. He could  _always_  get his brother out of his unhappy moods if he just acted like a moron. He didn't mind; Sora found it fun, anyway.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Roxas had an interesting week after the first day. And by interesting he meant confusing and stressful. He couldn't get the conversation he'd had with Axel during fencing out of his head.

_"You haven't ever considered you might not be straight as a stick?"_

Well,  _now_  he had. That asshole. Roxas had been perfectly content and sure of his sexuality before camp. Now he was questioning it.

It probably didn't help that the cause of his confusion was so damnably attractive. As much as he'd tried to ignore it, Roxas couldn't deny that there was something undeniably sexy about the older teen. Despite being skinny as a stick, Axel didn't look unhealthy or sickly. In fact, Roxas thought that it rather suited him, as did the tattoos and bright red hair.

He groaned into the table. Why did they have to take arts and crafts anyway? It sounded like he was at Girl Scout camp or something. Besides, the counselor was insane - absolutely  _shocking_ , as it was no different than the other ones - in a way that made Roxas fear for his life. The man was obsessed with  _scissors_ , for goodness sake! He shouldn't be anywhere  _near_  an arts and crafts building! He was just thankful that Aeris, one of the few  _sane_  counselors, was there as well.

Roxas had finished his silly paper chains quickly, doing the normal boys and girls instead of trying something more advanced. He just wanted to be done with them so he could do something that he actually enjoyed: drawing.

He didn't get a chance to do it often, but it covered his art credits at school and always helped him to relax. He absentmindedly began sketching something on one of the scraps of paper as he unknowingly stared across the room at Axel. He wasn't really focused on either the pencil in his hand or the red haired teen, and that caused a problem.

It took him a moment to even notice what he was doing, and by that point he had a somewhat successful sketch of Axel talking to Demyx on his paper. Roxas sighed. He just couldn't get away from him, no matter how much he tried.

Determined to finish the sketch despite his annoyance at its subject, Roxas spent the next twenty or so minutes in deep concentration. He was just about done with Axel and getting ready to work on Demyx when he decided it was best to take a short break. He began doodling in the corner of the paper, not paying attention to anything he drew.

When someone brushed against his shoulder, Roxas almost jumped out of seat. Sora was staring intently at the drawing he had been working on. Roxas hurriedly shoved the paper out of the way.

After a few minutes of talking with Sora trying to convince him that nothing was going on, his brother wandered back over to his own table.

Roxas sighed. He had to do something about this...Axel problem. He pulled the paper he had been drawing on before out from underneath the pile he had shoved it under and glanced at the corner he had doodled in.

Hearts. Fucking  _hearts_.

Roxas once again dropped his head on the table and groaned. He couldn't even trust  _himself_  with his own emotions.

He looked up to check the time, and Axel chose that moment to wave merrily in his general direction. Head back on the table it was then.

Roxas managed to steer clear of Axel for the rest of the week. On Saturday he had swimming with him, but he managed to avoid him and instead hung with a blond boy named Tidus. It had actually been quite a feat, as the whole time his traitorous mind had kept reminding him that Axel was somewhere in the same lake, shirtless.

Stupid mind.

He spent the majority of his lake time floating on his back miserably. Tidus eventually got bored and left him alone. Roxas glared at him as he left. He probably had such a simple life...secure in his sexuality, not obsessing over his roommate...

Yeah, Roxas had a problem. A tall, lanky, red haired, green eyed problem.

He wanted to drown.

Then he remembered that you can't drown yourself. Stupid, self-preserving mind.

Sunday was the only day of the week without any set activities. Most of the campers used the time either to lounge around their cabins or catch up with friends that they had little to no activities with. Roxas instead decided to hike through to woods in an effort to clear his mind.

Earlier in the week, he had heard some of the other campers in his cabin mention a lookout point in the woods. Apparently it gave a great view of the whole area and Roxas wanted a distraction. He  _needed_  something  _else_  to think about.

He'd been able to block out his thoughts the whole way there, but when he was sitting on the edge of a large rock at the lookout point there was really nothing else to think about.

'How  _do_  I feel about Axel? I haven't been able to get him out of my head all week, and I haven't even  _talked_  to him since Monday! This is ridiculous.'

Roxas sighed, leaning back to lay on his back and stare at the clouds. Without even realizing it, his eyes were sliding shut and he was falling asleep.

Hours later, Roxas awoke to find himself staring at the sky, though it was now painted with reds and oranges instead of the pure rich blue of mid-afternoon.

'Huh. I didn't even mean to fall asleep. Hopefully no one missed me too much.' He sighed. 'The sky's pretty now, at least. It's so red...'  _Like Axel's hair..._

"That's it! I need to stop thinking about him!" he said aloud, hoping that that might make it more plausible.

It didn't.

'Who am I kidding? I can't stop thinking about him. Even though I've been trying to all week, he keeps sneaking into my thoughts.'

Roxas glared at nothing in particular.

'I'm just going to have to admit that I'm attracted to him for some crazy reason that  _I_  don't even know or understand. That doesn't mean that I have to  _tell_  anyone about it...'

_"You know you can always talk to me, right?"_

'Sora...I guess I could tell you  _something_...'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Review if you'd like! This has now hit 50 reviews, which is amazing and I love ALL of you SO MUCH! Reviews brighten my day :D
> 
> Next time: Axel and Roxas make up (and out), Sora is still naïve, and Zexion still can't get rid of Demyx. Not that he'd want to, of course.


	6. Who Does that in the Cafeteria?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on time for once! Be happy! I hope you guys still read it on time though, since fanfiction dot net's notifications seem have broken. Ugh, I hate when that happens. I've had to go searching for when fics I read have updated ;-;
> 
> Anyway! This chapter centers more around Axel, Roxas, Demyx, and Zexion, because I like them the most and they're the easiest for me to write :D

After the disastrous fencing lesson, Axel didn't see much of Roxas except at the cabin. Not all activities were divided up by cabin, so as to meet more people and promote camp unity or something like that. Roxas refused to speak to him anyway, so Axel decided that it was his loss and he'd go have fun with other people.

Even so, he was still inexplicitly drawn to the blond haired boy. He found himself unconsciously staring at him during meals, sometimes trailing off in the middle of a conversation with someone else. It wasn't until his newfound friends pointed it out to him that he realized it was a problem.

He was just thinking this over during breakfast when he heard Sora yelling. Usually, he didn't pay attention because Sora was always yelling about something (at least once a meal), but this time it caused him to perk up and grin.

"No, Roxas, you can't be gay! I already told everyone you weren't!"

Axel was at their (Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Roxas) table in about five seconds flat, leaving his other friends either sighing or rolling their eyes at him back at the table.

Roxas looked absolutely mortified. Even though he had his head in his hands, it was still obvious that he was bright red.

Axel plopped himself down next to Roxas, stealing a piece of his muffin as he did so. "So what's this I hear about you preferring hot dogs over buns?"

Roxas answered by moaning pitifully into the table.

Kairi tried to reprimand him for being vulgar, but Axel waved her off and began poking Roxas in the arm.

"Roxassss, come onnnn. You can't hide from meeeeee," he sang. "Wanna talk about it?"

"No," he answered, voice muffled by the table.

"I really think you should," Axel told him. "It'll make you feel better."

"No it won't."

"Oh! I know how to make you feel better," Axel exclaimed, a plan forming in his head.

Roxas looked up. "What?"

"I'll give you a little test!"

"...okay? What does it do?" he questioned, looking a little bit better already.

"Oh, not much, really. It'll help sort things out for you, though, okay?" he answered.

"Yeah...what is the actual test?"

"Oh you'll see..."

Axel leaned in close and Roxas looked a little worried.

"What are you going to do?"

"Just don't be mad Roxy, it's only a simple test," Axel murmured, leaning farther in to kiss the startled blond.

Honestly, he expected to be punched in the face again. Instead, Roxas just sat there, a bit shocked and unresponsive. He was about to pull back and inform Roxas that no, of course he couldn't be gay because he'd resisted his charm, when the boy leaned in just a little. Axel grinned against his lips, tugging him closer, fully prepared to deepen the kiss. Roxas squeaked a bit in surprise, and Axel took the opportunity to run his tongue across his lips, urging the boy to allow him entrance.

Roxas complied, reaching up to fist his hands in Axel's hair. Even as Roxas leaned into him, Axel could feel his nervousness. He urged him to relax by running his hands down Roxas's sides to rest on his waist protectively.

By this point, Axel had completely forgotten that they were in a camp cafeteria, as he was more focused on Roxas and convincing him that hey, it's okay to be gay.

Then Riku started coughing at them, bringing him back to reality. Axel decided that when he ruled the world, Riku was going to be the first to go.

Reluctantly, Axel pulled back from Roxas, who whimpered and just stared at him, dazed. He grinned. 'Success!'

Sora and Kairi were staring at them in open-mouthed shock, unable to say anything. Axel decided to take the opportunity to run off before Sora decided to retaliate, as he kind of thought that he would.

"I'll see you at fencing Roxy," he said, taking the rest of his muffin and heading out, but added a little something extra under his breath to Roxas. "By the way...you passed."

Roxas continued to stare off into space in a daze, completely oblivious to the world around him. Axel continued to grin. It was a good day.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Roxas had not expected breakfast to turn out that way. When he'd told his brother and friends that he thought that he  _may_  be gay, he didn't think that Sora would start yelling to the entire cafeteria. But he had, and it had brought Axel over, and  _that_  had led to the most interesting breakfast he'd ever had.

He hadn't expected Axel to kiss him, especially after what had happened last time. But he was certainly glad that Axel apparently either had the memory span of a fly or just didn't care.

Sora obviously had a different opinion. He had finally stopped staring in shock and instead was freaking out, babbling absolute nonsense.

Kairi never stopped staring. She just gaped at Roxas and the direction that Axel had went.

Riku went back to his breakfast, ignoring his two freaked friends.

Roxas knew that he had definitely sat there and stared at nothing for a full minute or so, but Sora's babbling had eventually brought him out of it.

"Sora. Shut up. Please," he said.

"But! Axel...he...and you...and...I don't understand what just happened!" Sora was the picture of a confused teenager.

Roxas couldn't help but grin as Riku and Kairi – who were sitting on either side of Sora – kissed him on each cheek, causing the brunet to blush.

"It's called kissing, Sora. You should try it some time," Riku said nonchalantly.

Kairi laughed at him, nodding her head in agreement with Riku.

"I'll catch you guys later, okay?" Roxas said, reaching for his muffin. Which wasn't there.

"Who took my muffin?" he asked.

"Axel," Riku answered simply. "You obviously weren't paying enough attention to protect your food."

Roxas could feel himself blushing at the comment. Damn Axel for being so distracting. Now he had no breakfast. He sighed. Apparently he'd be waiting until lunch to eat. As he really didn't want to deal with Sora and friends anymore and he didn't even have a breakfast to eat, Roxas left the cafeteria and heading towards his first activity: fencing.

He was almost at the clearing for fencing when someone called out his name.

"Hey," Axel said, leaning casually against a tree. Roxas immediately blushed, remembering what had happened only a few minutes prior.

"Hi," he mumbled. What was he supposed to say now?

"Aw, Roxy, don't be all embarrassed now," Axel told him, as he stopped leaning against the tree and walked over to stand closer. "It'll be awkward between us and I don't want that."

Roxas tried to muster a glare, but failed pitifully. "Since when did you start calling me Roxy?"

"Oh, I'd say it was right before the fabulous making out in the cafeteria."

He turned about as red as Axel's hair. "Errrr..." He didn't know what to do now. How was Axel being so casual about it? It wasn't something that he was just going to brush off!

"What, you need a reminder already?" Axel was grinning and his face was entirely too close to his for Roxas's comfort. Their noses were touching and Roxas could feel Axel's breath on his lips. He was having trouble concentrating on what he had been about to say.

"Uh, no, I'm okay...er, wait. What did you say again?" Roxas couldn't keep his thoughts together with Axel staring at him.

Axel responded by closing the distance between their lips, hands immediately resting on Roxas's waist to pull him closer. He gasped in surprised, which Axel took advantage of to deepen the kiss. His mind tried to tell him that it was wrong, that they were in public, and that anyone could come by and see them. But Axel was so distracting and his body was telling him otherwise, so Roxas relaxed and leaned in, tugging on Axel's hair to bring him closer.

He felt Axel smirk against his lips and he wanted so bad to wipe that smirk right off. So far Axel had been leading, pushing Roxas up against a nearby to tree for support, but he was going to change that. He pressed himself more firmly against Axel and gave a smirk of his own at the surprise he could feel emanating from the older boy's body.

And then Sora and Riku showed up.

"AGH! Roxas! What are you doing?!" Sora exclaimed, despite Riku's efforts to silence his friend.

Roxas and Axel sprung apart quickly. Roxas  _knew_  he probably matched Axel's hair at this moment. He was going to kill his twin later. Way to make things way more awkward. Unfortunately, he couldn't even think of anything to say to express this at the moment.

Luckily for him, Axel could. "It's kissing, Sora. Maybe you could get your boyfriend to teach you?"

Riku looked like he was going to punch Axel in the face. Roxas sighed. He really had a bad habit of pissing people off. Not wanting to witness anything of the sort break out, he started tugging on Axel's hand, saying: "We're going to be late. Let's go."

Axel followed, still grinning happily, Roxas noticed. As they were walking away, he heard Sora talking to Riku, obviously confused.

"Riku? What did he mean? I don't get it. Could you explain?"

The fencing grounds were, quite literally, mere seconds from where they had been. So it wasn't until they had been given instructions and an assignment for the class that Roxas had a chance to talk to Axel again.

"You pissed Riku off," he stated simply.

Axel shrugged. "It's obvious that he's pining over Sora, as is Kairi. I want to know how you live with all this sexual tension around you all the time."

"It's pretty easy to ignore and look past if you don't really have anywhere else to go," Roxas answered. "But that's not the conversation I want to have with you now."

"I would hope not."

"Right. Anyway. Why'd you kiss me?" Roxas knew it was blunt, but he had to know. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and allow that first one to be just a 'test', but the second time? Why?"

"Because I wanted to," Axel answered. "I like you, Roxas, I do. It's really that simple. You're going to overanalyze it death and then where will that leave us? So just don't."

"But...I just don't understand. I just  _met_  you a week ago! How did this even happen?"

"Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Things happen that you can't quite explain," he answered. "But we could stop if you really want."

"No!" Roxas exclaimed, and then corrected himself in embarrassment. He didn't want to seem too eager or anything. "I mean, not really, er. Oh, shut up. Stop smirking at me."

"Heh. It's part of the charm. You can't resist," Axel said in his annoying sing-song voice that made Roxas want to wipe that ever-present smirk off his face in some very inappropriate ways. He shook his head and instead decided to take advantage of Axel's lack of concentration to score a hit off of him. They  _were_  supposed to be fencing, anyway.

"I win," Roxas said in reply, grinning at Axel's look of confusion, followed by one of shock and mild anger.

"You cheated!" Axel accused, pointing at him. "You distracted me and then...agh. Wait, does this mean we can leave now?"

"I dunno. Go ask Sephiroth," Roxas answered, searching his pockets for food. He really was hungry.

"I'd rather not. Let's just sit here until we either get yelled at or we can leave," he replied, sitting down and leaning against a tree. Roxas followed suit, sitting next to him and leaning back against the same tree.

"Why'd you have to take my muffin? That was my breakfast, Axel."

"Aw, I'm sorry. I bet I still taste like it though, wanna check?"

Roxas blushed. Damn his fair complexion. It made both him and Sora so very susceptible to blushing.

He managed to get himself together, though, saying, "No, I'm just hungry. You don't have any food on you, do you?" He then watched Axel check his pockets, coming up with a lighter, a toothpick, some matches, and half a cracker.

"Nope, sorry. Unless you want the cracker?"

"No thanks, I think I'm good."

"Well, since you got a question, I think I should get one too," Axel said.

"Sounds fair, I guess."

"Why'd you get all bitchy on me last week?"

Roxas stared, a little surprised. He'd almost completely forgotten how mean he had acted. It was inexcusable, really, and yet Axel was still sitting next to him. The question had been asked out of pure curiosity, not anger or spite. Axel seemed to hold nothing against him for his outburst and now it was going to cause Roxas unending confusion.

"Because I was confused and I didn't know what else to do. I don't know; I'm still confused. Why are you even still talking to me? I was a little bitch and you have every right to refuse to speak me."

"Isn't it my turn to question you?" Axel replied. "And the only reason I'd stop talking to you would if my mouth were otherwise occupied."

"You pervert," Roxas grumbled, but it was good natured.

"That wasn't really what I meant though. I can understand the anger, really, but you just...it's hard to explain." Axel sighed. "At first you were yelling and stuff, and then next you were cold and calculating. Honestly? I was a bit afraid of you for a moment there."

"I don't really know. I was just really, really mad. You were making me question everything I knew about myself!" Roxas paused to think for a moment. "Maybe not  _everything_ , but it's pretty damn important and I didn't want to think about it."

Axel swung an arm around his shoulders, pulling Roxas closer. "Aren't you glad you did, though?" he asked.

"I guess, if you ignore the fact that I think Sora's disappointed in me, Riku  _hates_  you, and I think Kairi's been conspiring with her roommate this whole time to get us together. That's a little freaky."

Axel laughed at him.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Zexion couldn't get rid of Demyx. It had been a week of camp already – making it swimming day again – and he just couldn't get rid of the boy. No matter how much he ignored him or snapped at him, Demyx just didn't give up.

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about it anymore, and that was scaring him. Sure, in the beginning Zexion had been annoyed and frustrated. Didn't he know when to quit? But he had gotten used to Demyx following him around and it no longer bothered him nearly as much.

That scared him, a lot.

Zexion was used to keeping to himself and being ignored by everyone around him. He had spent high school being picked on for being smaller than the other boys and he had eventually just completely given up on making any friends. He had decided that everyone wasn't nearly as intelligent as he was and weren't worth talking to. It wasn't that he was a natural loner, but he had gotten used to it. Also, Demyx definitely wasn't someone he would try to befriend, but that obviously didn't matter to the hyperactive blond.

So he was quite surprised to find Demyx instead sitting with his roommate (he was pretty sure his name was Marluxia) and a blond girl (who Zexion was fairly certain was in his cabin, but he couldn't remember her name off the top of his head).

He quickly pushed away the slight feelings of loneliness and rejection that had suddenly invaded his thoughts. It didn't matter; it was just Demyx. Zexion reminded himself that he  _liked_  sitting alone. He could read the paper for the first time without being interrupted since camp had started. That was a plus.

Without even realizing it, he had flipped to the apartment section. Zexion glanced at the paper and groaned to himself. Couldn't he just enjoy himself without thinking about Demyx? This was ridiculous.

And then the entire cafeteria went silent. He glanced around, looking for the cause of the silence. He vaguely recalled someone yelling something earlier, but it was the same boy who yelled during  _every_  meal so he had ignored it.

Then Zexion's eyes landed on two boys making out. He blinked. Who did that in a camp cafeteria?

"Those are my friends!" Demyx said, shocking Zexion into almost falling out of his seat.

"When did you get here?" he questioned, regaining his composure.

"You were sitting all by yourself again! So I came over to say hi," Demyx answered.

"You say those are your friends?"

"Yep! The blond is Roxas and the red head is Axel. They're roommates and they've been fighting since they got here." He paused. "But I don't think they are anymore."

"No, really?" Zexion replied sarcastically.

"Nope. I think they're finally getting along."

By this time, the source of much entertainment to the cafeteria occupants had left. Zexion inwardly shook his head. How could anyone have enough confidence to do that in public? Especially with all of Xemnas's "NO PDA" signs everywhere.

Zexion went to look back at his paper, only to see that Demyx had taken it. How unusual.

"Are you looking for an apartment too?" the blond asked.

"No, I already have one. I was just looking through the paper when I got distracted," he answered, hoping the Demyx didn't push the subject.

"Can I have this section?"

"Sure, I'm not using it."

Zexion immediately braced himself for the hug that he was sure to receive. No matter how many times he told Demyx, the boy just refused to stop hugging him. He was a very touchy-feely kind of person.

He was surprised to find that Demyx instead began poring over the paper, searching intently for an apartment. This didn't last for long, as he looked quite confused.

"I don't understand any of this," he said.

Zexion moved to sit on the other side of the table next to Demyx. "Here, I'll help. You've never looked for one before?"

"Not at all."

"Well, what's your price range?"

Demyx looked thoughtful. "I think I have twenty dollars? I have more in the bank, but not much...my parents made me pay for damages."

"That's not going to get you much of anything. Do you have a job?"

"No...I was planning on getting one as soon as camp ends though."

"You'll need somewhere to stay until your first paycheck," Zexion stated.

"Uh...are you sure they won't just let me owe them?"

"Probably not."

"Agh...well, I still have over a month. Let's just have fun! I'm going to get you to swim today," Demyx announced, dragging him out of the cafeteria and towards the lake.

Zexion stiffened. He didn't like swimming. He had been unhappy when he had been assigned to helping at the lake, but as of yet he hadn't had to jump in for any reason.

"I don't swim," he stated, pulling his arm away from Demyx. "That's not changing any time soon."

"Oh, please? I really want you to..."

"No."

"Well...what if someone was drowning? Wouldn't you have to jump in and save them?"

Zexion narrowed his eyes at Demyx. He could tell the blond boy was planning something and he didn't like it.

"If it was you? I'd ignore it, because I know you know how to swim. Anyone else, I'd have Tifa save them," he answered, satisfied.

" _Oh_  I'll get you eventually! Just you wait!" Demyx said, frustrated.

Zexion couldn't help the small smile the crept onto his lips at his companion's antics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is so exciting! I got _seventeen reviews_ for the last chapter! That's the most yet! I LOVE all of my lovely reviewers and I _do_ plan on replying to your reviews, but since the notification system isn't working, you wouldn't get them anyway. But still review! It'll make me happy!
> 
> Next time: We jump a couple weeks into the summer and come upon the plot twist that NO ONE is going to guess. I can assure you of that ;D


	7. Confusion of Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm in shock. Honestly. This fic has reached **ninety-four** reviews! I _never_ expected this, especially not after so few chapters! I'm just, wow, giddy with happiness. Seriously, your reviews have filled me with warmth and smiles. I love _all of you_ so freaking much. That's why I'm updating a day early :D
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to [TheMajesticBeanCurd](https://www.fanfiction.net/u/782085/) for the lovely PM she sent me _and_ because it's her birthday this weekend. Happy birthday! I hope it's wonderful!

Kairi swore under her breath, an uncommon occurrence, but one she believed was warranted. She was trying to sneak into a cabin in the middle of the night and it was difficult. She didn't even know why she was doing this. Well, she did, but she couldn't believe that she was actually going along with it.

Why  _was_  she doing it? It was all Riku's fault. Right after dinner, he had pulled her aside to talk.

"Sora's having a problem with Roxas and Axel," he had said.

"No, really?"

"I think he's a bit confused about his own sexuality," Riku confessed. "He seems so freaked out by it and keeps trying to deny what's going on."

"Riku...don't force it, okay? Sora's a bit...jumpy right now. And stressed." She hadn't liked the look in his eyes. It was the "I'm-planning-something-that-you-can't-know-about-yet" look.

"Well, I want you to help fix that. Come by our cabin after lights out. We're in room three on the boys' side."

She had to agree with Riku, though. Sora, despite being happy and positive constantly, wasn't open to big changes. Since Axel and Roxas had become a couple over a week ago, Sora had looked lost and confused. Kairi knew that the twins had always been close, but now Sora didn't seem to know how to even  _talk_  to Roxas anymore. She wanted, no,  _needed_ , to help Sora sort out his confusion. It was what best friends did.

It still meant that Kairi was trying to find Harmony Cabin in the middle of the night. She couldn't tell the difference between any of the cabins in the dark and she kept tripping on sticks and rocks. Finally, she arrived in a large clearing with a cabin in the center. The moon was shining through the trees, giving her a good view of the cabin.

She was looking at the windows to rooms, hoping for some kind of clue that this was the right one. Kairi then spotted boxers poking out from one of the windows. Very familiar boxers. They were Sora's star fruit ones that she had given him for his birthday as a joke a few years ago. She shook her head, surprised that he had kept them.

Kairi walked up and rapped on the window, hoping that Riku and Sora hadn't gone to sleep or anything. She would murder them if they had.

Instead, Sora's grinning face greeted her.

"Hiya! Let me just open this so you can come in!" he said enthusiastically. Only Sora could be so full of energy at one in the morning.

Kairi crawled in through the now open window, pulling Sora's boxers in with her. She handed them to him, saying: "Nice way to mark your room."

Even in the dim light, she could see Sora blushing. "It was Riku's idea," he said in defense.

Riku waved cheerily from one of the beds.

"Right, of  _course_  it was. I'm not going to even ask why you still have these."

Sora sat down on the bed next to Riku, still blushing a little, but now he was pouting too. Kairi sat down next to him, poking his lip that was sticking out.

"Sora seems to have a problem with accepting that his brother is gay," Riku started.

Sora immediately disagreed. "Roxas isn't gay! He's just...Axelsexual."

"Ignoring just how stupid that sounds, you need to be a bit more open to some change, okay?" Kairi said. "What's the problem?"

"I dunno..." Sora began, squirming. "It's just a bit weird for me, okay? He's my twin brother and we've always been a lot alike, and now he's just...not."

"Sora, I'm not quite sure what you're getting at here."

"Because we're twins, does that make me gay too?"

Riku looked like he was going to laugh, but managed to cover it with a cough. Kairi rolled her eyes.

"No, Sora. You're whatever  _you_  are."

"But I don't  _know_  what I am!" Sora exclaimed, confusion marring his features.

"Then we'll give you a little test, all right?"

"Do I have to kiss Axel?"

"What? No, no. I think Roxas might castrate you if you did," she answered. "You're just gonna kiss me and Riku."

Sora fell off the bed in shock.

Riku snickered at him.

Kairi glared at both of them.

"You don't know what you are, right? I'm a girl and Riku's a boy, in case you haven't noticed. Go with what feels right."

Sora got back up onto the bed. "Uh. You know, I think I'm fine being confused. Really."

"Where's your sense of adventure?" she asked teasingly.

"Not here!"

"Well, be that way then. We were just trying to help," Riku said.

"It just feels awkward...shouldn't it be like, a moment? I've never kissed anyone before," he whined.

Kairi sighed. "You sound like a girl, Sora. Here's your moment:  _Oh, Sora, I love you so! Take me now!_ "

Sora responded by turning bright red.

"It'll just be a quick peck on the lips. You look like I'm going to bite your head off. Just relax," she cooed at him and leaned toward him to place a light kiss on his lips. "See? No problems, right?"

Sora shook his head.

Kairi gestured at Riku and mouthed "your turn" at him. If she had had that much trouble convincing Sora to kiss her, she didn't want to have to deal with the Riku situation.

Apparently Riku didn't either, as he simply pulled Sora towards himself for a kiss. She smirked, noticing that it lasted slightly longer than hers had.

Sora now looked more confused than ever.

"I can't pick between you two!"

Riku glanced at her, a look of slight confusion on his face.

"Sora, we never said you had to. I thought you were just worried about being gay," she said in reply.

"But that's the problem! I don't really like anyone else like  _that_ , just  _both_  of you. Equally. And I don't want us to ever separate."

"Then we won't," Riku said simply. "We'll just be together forever."

"Promise?"

"We promise," Kairi replied.

Sora sighed, still looking slightly worried. "Do you ever feel like we should never be separated?" he asked suddenly.

"What exactly do you mean?" Kairi questioned.

"I don't know...like, every time we're not together, my heart just  _clenches_  painfully, wondering where you two are." He paused. "Is that just me? Am I too attached?"

Riku smiled at the brunet. "No, I definitely feel the same way. Why do you think Kairi and I came to camp with you?"

"Riku's right," Kairi continued. "A summer without you just wouldn't be right. We'd miss you terribly."

"Thanks again, guys," Sora said. "I really don't know what I'd do without you."

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Axel was in a bubble of happiness for the next few days. Nothing could possibly go wrong anymore. He'd gotten Roxas to stop being angry at him  _and_  allow him to kiss him. It was heaven.

Axel had tried pondering what had drawn him to Roxas originally, but it always led him back to a strange sense of familiarity that he had felt when they had first met. This was really confusing him, because he  _knew_  he had never met him before. Well, he was pretty sure he hadn't.

It had been driving him crazy for the past two weeks, so he finally decided to ask Roxas about it during lunch once day. It was turkey pinwheel day, which meant that Roxas would be in a particularly good mood. Neither of them were quite sure what those were, but they tasted good so they weren't complaining.

They were sitting outside instead of in the stuffy cafeteria. It was almost the end of June now and the weather just continued to get hotter. Also, everyone stared at them when they sat in there, probably expecting another make out session or something. Roxas was happily chowing down on a turkey pinwheel and Axel was relaxing by leaning against a tree.

"Hey Roxas," he began.

He got a mumbled 'mmhm' in reply.

"Have we ever met before?"

Roxas looked at him, confusion evident in his features. He swallowed the last of his turkey pinwheel and replied with: "What are you talking about?"

"It's hard to explain...when I first met you, you just seemed...familiar. Like a distant memory or something."

Axel knew it was a long shot (he was probably just imagining things anyway) and now Roxas was probably going to think he was crazy.

Instead, Roxas looked like he was concentrating on something.

"Yeah...we've met." He paused. "But not in this life."

"What?"

Roxas looked confused again. "I have no idea where that came from, honestly. It just...agh. You're messing up my life with confusion," he finished, pouting.

Axel grinned. "It's what I do best, Roxas, it's what I do best."

Roxas then leaned back, half against the tree and half against Axel. "I'll think about it, okay? You did seem a little familiar, but I was too busy being mad at you for lighting my bag on fire."

"I will never live that down, will I?"

"Nope."

"But you forgive me for it now," he said.

"Only because you torched the hideous camp t-shirt. Now I have an excuse not to wear it."

"That's me: Axel, torcher of hideous clothing. Shirts are a specialty." He finished by holding up the arm farthest from Roxas, palm up as though he were showing something off. What he wasn't expecting was a small fire to appear in it.

"What the  **fuck**?!" he exclaimed.

Roxas immediately jumped away as Axel stared at his hand in confusion and shock.

"I have no idea what the fuck just happened there, but I'm a little freaked out by it," Axel continued.

Roxas wasn't saying anything; he was simply staring.

"Flurry of dancing flames," he said eventually, looking a little shocked at himself, like he had no idea where the words had come from again.

Axel gave him an odd look, but the words seemed so familiar. He just couldn't remember why. He was grasping at small wisps of memories in the far corners of his mind, but he just couldn't reach them. It was frustrating.

"Right, so that's enough weirdness for one day," Axel said, standing up. He reached down to help up a still highly confused Roxas. "Come on."

"Aren't you...aren't you worried?"

"Well, of course I am! I just had fire appear in my  _hand_  and you expect me to  _not_  be freaked out? I'd rather not worry about it at the moment, though," he replied.

Roxas refused to take Axel's hand, just staring at him in annoyance. "No, Axel, you  _have_  to deal with this right now! It's crazy, you can't be so nonchalant about your hand almost catching on  _fire_!"

Axel sighed, sitting back down next to Roxas. "Well, then, what do you plan on doing? I have  _no_  clue how that happened and no idea how to figure it out."

"Maybe-" Roxas began, but Demyx came bounding into out of the cafeteria, with Zexion following at a more relaxed pace.

"Hey guys! What's up?" Demyx questioned, interrupting Roxas.

"Not much," Axel answered, stopping Roxas from continuing their previous conversation. He mouthed "later" to the angry looking blond, hoping that it would calm him a bit.

"Oh, I have canoeing on the lake now. What do you two have?" Demyx asked.

"I have canoeing, too," Axel said.

"I've got archery. I guess I'll see you later, then?" Roxas asked, pointedly looking at Axel.

"Sure, I'll see you at dinner, Roxas!" Axel said, waving as he followed Demyx and Zexion on the path to the lake.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

After dinner, Roxas and Axel were lounging around in their room, enjoying the cool breezes provided once the sun had set. They had finally been able to pry open the window that Axel had melted shut (if Roxas had still been angry with him when he discovered it, they would probably  _still_  be fighting).

"Well, we've  _finally_  managed to get away from everyone. Can we talk about what happened earlier?" Roxas asked.

Axel looked less than thrilled.

"I'd rather not, but I can tell that you're going to explode if we don't," he answered.

Roxas glared. While that may be true, he didn't have to point it out.

"Axel, a fire just appeared  _in you hand_. I would think you'd want to figure out why," he said.

"I  _do_  want to know why. Then I could do it again!"

Roxas threw a shoe at his head, mildly disappointed when it missed its target.

"The last thing you need to be able to do is to light things more easily on fire. You do it enough as is."

"But Roxas, I've always been drawn to it! Fire is in my blood!"

"Obviously," he replied sarcastically.

"You've never been drawn to an element?"

"Not particularly, no."

"Hmm...most people are, you know."

"Axel, where the hell do you come up with this stuff?"

Axel grinned at him. "You're just jealous that you don't think of awesome things like me."

Roxas sighed. "Look, I really don't think 'light' counts as an element," he said off-handedly, mentally slapped himself as soon as he said it. He should have known better than to share that. Axel was going to laugh at him, especially since it really didn't make much sense anyway.

"So you  _are_  drawn to something!"

"Just a bit."

Axel grinned again. "Then maybe you can conjure light out of thin air!"

He rolled his eyes at the red head. "I don't really think that's possible."

"Neither is having fire appear in your palm. Try it out?"

Roxas shook his head, not believing that anything would happen. But Axel was practically begging him, so he decided to humor him. He closed his eyes, arm out, and concentrated. He probably looked like a moron.

Then a vision flashed in his head: himself, in black robes, holding out two weapons with a vague key-like shape. He blinked, and it was gone.

"Holy fuck," Roxas said.

Axel was staring at him. "What?"

"I...saw something. In my head. It was like a distant memory from long ago. But that wouldn't make any sense!"

"You were also glowing."

"Wait, I was  **what**?"

"Glowing. Like a light bulb. It was a bit freaky."

Roxas was officially weirded out by everything that had been happening.

"I don't understand what's going on anymore!" he yelled out in frustration. "Everything is just...happening. It's not enjoyable and it's pissing me off."

"Oh, and it's just a cup of tea for me," Axel replied sarcastically, which Roxas responded to by glaring. "You said you saw something. What was it?"

Roxas sighed, running a hand through his blond spikes. "It was me. I couldn't really make out where I was – it was so brief and slightly blurred – but I was wearing a long black robe or jacket of some sort, and holding two...weapons, I'm assuming. They were vaguely key-shaped." He thought for a moment. "Keyblades. That's what they were called."

"It's 'cause you were the 'Key of Destiny'. Or something like that," Axel said offhandedly. "Whoa, I have no idea where that came from. But...what you saw feels so familiar."

"So we're both insane?"

"That much was obvious already, Roxas. But this...this is something different."

"I'm not insane," he said, feeling the need to defend his sanity. Though he  _had_  begun to doubt that earlier in the day, he still knew he wasn't completely loopy.

"Of course not, you're just seeing things in your head."

Roxas didn't quite know what to think. Everything had become so  **confusing**  since camp had begun. He knew he should have protested and just stayed home.

Axel spoke again, startling Roxas out of his thoughts. "Have you thought of asking Sora about any of this?"

"No, why would I?"

"Oh, you know, the whole twin thing? I thought twins had the six sense thing going on."

"Not really, Axel. That's just an urban myth."

"Well, I'm all out of ideas then." Axel looked ready to say something else, but was interrupted by someone knocking on the door. "Yeah?"

"You have a visitor," Leon said shortly, before walking away.

Roxas got up, opened the door, and was immediately met with a freaked out Demyx.

"I'm seeing things in my head!" he exclaimed.

"Join the club," Axel replied. "So's Roxas."

Demyx followed Roxas into the room, sitting unhappily on a chair. "Really? Because then I won't feel so bad."

Roxas decided that he must be a crazy person magnet. His only two friends at camp had both destroyed their homes in some way  _and_  were insane. He shouldn't really talk, but it was just a weird coincidence.

"What did you see?" he asked patiently.

"Myself. And you, and Axel, and Zexion, and I think it was Marluxia because no one else has pink hair like that, and some others and we were all in these long black jacket-things! I think there were thirteen of us? But I freaked out and flooded my room, and Marluxia's going to  **kill**  me, and Zexy probably will too, so I ran out to come ask for your advice."

Axel and Roxas stared at him. First of all, Roxas was trying to figure out how he had managed to say all of that in one breath. Second of all, he was shocked (as was Axel, he was assuming) at the similarities between what he had seen and what Demyx had seen.

Roxas managed to pick one thing out of the whole rant that stood out especially in his mind. "You flooded your room?"

"It was an accident and I don't know how it happened! There was just water  _everywhere_  all of a sudden!"

Apparently Axel was done being speechless ( _that_  never lasted long). "I  _told_  you that people were drawn to certain elements and you didn't  _believe_  me, Roxas. But I was right!"

"Oh shut it. I guess I can't be right all the time." Roxas was about to add more, when the door to the room practically  _flew_  open to reveal an angry Zexion.

Never again did he want to witness this sight. From previous meetings, the camp's youngest counselor had always been calm, quiet, and composed. But at the moment he looked ready to rip someone's head off.

"Demyx. Would you care to explain how you managed to flood your room?" Zexion asked, anger obvious in his voice.

Demyx shrunk into his chair. "It was an accident?"

"But you've done this before! How can it be an accident?!" he exclaimed.

"Zexion...the only room I've ever flooded is my basement," Demyx answered slowly, obviously confused.

"No, I definitely remember you flooding your room before."

Roxas knew he shouldn't intrude on the conversation, but he just couldn't help it. All these weird coincidences had to mean  _something_ , right?

"Perhaps in a past life?" he interjected.

Zexion and Demyx both turned to look at him.

"What?" Zexion asked.

"A past life. It's not entirely impossible, and it would explain a lot of what's been happening to me, Axel, and Demyx, and apparently you as well." At Zexion's look of confusion, Roxas continued. "Earlier today, Axel had fire just spontaneously in his hand. Just before you and Demyx showed up, I saw a  _vision_  of some sorts in my head. It  _obviously_  wasn't anything from  _this_  life, so a past life might make sense."

"Whatever, we can talk about it later. If Demyx  _lives_  until later. He and I are going back to the cabin to have a long talk with his roommate and the other counselors," Zexion stated. It appeared that he was beginning to calm a bit, but he was still quite angry. He wasn't yelling anymore, at least.

Demyx followed Zexion out of the room, waving sadly to its other two occupants as he left.

Axel shook his head. "Damn, remind me not get on  _his_  bad side."

"Axel! I feel bad for Demyx. Zexion seemed  _really_  angry at him and he had a similar experience. I don't know about  _you_ , but I would like to know what's going on here," Roxas admonished.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. But there's not much we can do to help Demyx tonight, so we're going to have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him. Just relax a bit, okay? You're really intent on figuring things out and it's going to stress you out."

Roxas glared slightly. "I just want to know what's happening. But I  _suppose_  we can worry about it tomorrow."

"All right! I'm finally getting you to loosen up a bit," Axel exclaimed gleefully.

Roxas rolled his eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUN. Bwahaha I've always wanted to end with a cliffhanger. I'm evil, I know. I hope you review, though, and tell me what you think of it! I live for your reviews, really, they just make me so happy :D I treasure every single one of them. Help me reach 100, guys! I'll explode in happiness, I swear.
> 
> Next time: We catch up with Naminé and Marluxia, Roxas and Axel try to sort things out some more, and we finally get some Zemyx action, if you know what I mean ;D


	8. So, what IS going on?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, um, hi? I randomly take hiatuses from writing, in case you haven't noticed...yeah. I don't mean to, but sometimes it just happens. Anyway! I'm back :D And um, holy shit guys. As of now, this fic has **166** reviews. That's more than I've ever had for anything else. I love all of you SO MUCH!
> 
> This chapter is dedicated to my boyfriend [Pat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arahith) for forcing me to get off my lazy ass and work on this. Also, for spending many a weekend with me playing KH2 and making sea salt ice cream. Which, by the way, is the most delicious thing _ever_. I recommend that you all make it some day :D And he's been bugging me to update this thing for ages. I suppose I owe it to him for many, many reasons. ENJOY :D

Zexion was practically  **livid**. His evening was supposed to be Demyx-free. He'd already spent the day with him and he wanted some alone time. Zexion had lived by himself for almost two years and was not used to being in constant company with people. Unfortunately, his calming evening walk had been anything  _but_  peaceful.

Oh, it had started out nicely. The lake really was quite gorgeous, especially in twilight. However, the water had reminded him of Demyx, which had led to an odd flood of memories. Zexion generally remembered everything quite well. Or, at least well enough to know when something  _wasn't_ anything he'd actually experienced.

They started slow and simple. As Zexion walked along the lake, he'd catch glimpses of memories in his mind's eye. Black figures walking through blindingly white halls, adorned with a myriad of hair colors and a varying range of powers. Fire, lightening, ice,  _water_... The shapes were all blurred at first – blink and they were gone – but the longer he walked for, the clearer everything became in Zexion's mind.

He tried to ignore them. He had to be  _crazy_ , seeing things in his mind like that. It could be the prolonged contact with so many new, different people...he never did well in those situations. Then everything started coming faster and sharper, all with one reoccurring theme.

Demyx. Zexion wanted one day where his thoughts weren't plagued by him. He wondered, was this a new way his mind had come up with to remind him, constantly, of Demyx's existence?

Maybe, just maybe, if he headed back to the cabin, he could forget about all of this. Zexion wanted some tea and a good book. He'd hide himself away in his room, call these strange visions hallucinations caused by too many children and not enough sleep, and be fine by morning.

However, his mind had one last bit to share with him for the evening. It was longer than all the others, too. It was sharp and clear, like watching a movie in his mind.

_Zexion was walking down a white and gray hallway, adorned in a long black coat. Demyx, wearing similar attire, ran up next to him, slinging an arm around his shoulders and planting a light kiss on Zexion's cheek. Zexion rolled his eyes before turning slightly to grab the ties on Demyx's hood and pulling him closer, about to k-_

"No!" Zexion yelled, shaking his head vigorously and holding onto a nearby tree for support. He felt shaken and confused, altogether unprepared to deal with any other illusions his mind had to other. He actually sprinted back to his cabin, keen on just drinking tea and trying to forget his entire walk.

Instead, he came back to find that Demyx had somehow managed to flood his room. Marluxia had gone from yelling and screaming in anger to crying over his 'poor, poor flowers' in a span of about 30 seconds, and Zexion was still trying to sort out his confusion and regain his composure. When questioned as to where Demyx was, Marluxia simply replied that he didn't know, but that he was probably over at Comity Cabin visiting a friend.

It turned out that Marluxia was right, as one of Comity's counselors knew exactly who he was talking about and even pointed him in the direction of the room he was in.

Zexion only felt mildly bad about almost breaking the door to the room, since one of its occupants was a huge trouble-maker in his own right.

He was satisfied to see Demyx jump in fear at his entrance. Good, he'd finally managed to get a reaction out of him that didn't involve smiling or hugging. Or, oh gods, his mind was reminding of earlier, and he did  _not_  want to think about that.

"Demyx," he said, trying to regain his composure, though he was sure that anger was emanating off of his body in  _waves_. "Care to explain how you managed to flood your room?"

"It was an accident?" Demyx offered, fearful.

Zexion immediately went off on him, words coming out of his mouth that he didn't even realize he was saying.

"But you've done this before! How can it be an accident?!"

The sentence echoed in his head and his headache started to return in full force. Demyx hadn't flooded his bedroom in the past two weeks of camp...but Zexion was  _positive_  that it was true.

Demyx was obviously confused as he stared at Zexion in bewilderment and disagreed with his comment.

But there was a memory tugging at him again, hidden somewhere in the corners of his mind, telling him that what he had said was  **true**. So he defended it, countering that he remembered Demyx flooding his room before. Zexion hated it, this previously unknown part of his mind that seemed to be taking over.

"Perhaps in a past life?" the blond sitting on one of the beds suggested. He considered it, thinking that it was just too strange. But everything that was happening was strange, so...

But Zexion really didn't have time for this, so he wrapped up the conversation with a promise to discuss it later and lead Demyx out of the room and the cabin.

And then he exploded.

"How the _fuck_  do you flood a room, Demyx? There wasn't even a hose nearby!"

"I don't know! I was just thinking, and suddenly there was water everywhere! I didn't mean to make it happen, I swear!"

"So you're saying you just conjured water out of thin air? Highly unlikely," Zexion responded, despite everything in his mind yelling at him, telling him that it was no more unlikely than the strange memories or whatever they were that he'd seen during his walk earlier.

Demyx looked frustrated. "I don't understand it either, okay? It just...happened. I saw something in my head, alright? I'm not crazy, because it's not a hallucination. It's like a long-forgotten memory."

Zexion was never one for violence, but he was just so  _frustrated_  at Demyx at the moment. Half of it technically wasn't even his fault, since unless Demyx had somehow acquired the ability to mess with his mind, everything that Zexion had envisioned earlier was all his own. Also, never mind that he was couple inches shorter and probably a good deal weaker. He still wanted to do  _something_.

Something consisted of marching over to Demyx, fully prepared to yank him down to eyelevel and bitch him out for everything. But the second he touched his shoulder, it was like he was transported to a completely different world.

He blinked, adjusting himself to his current surroundings. The familiarity of the place was almost shocking; it was the same hallway he'd seen earlier, in that godforsaken vision. Demyx was standing next to him, looking around in confusion and some semblance of awe.

"Where are we?" Demyx finally asked, breaking the heavy silence.

"I don't know," Zexion snapped in reply. Demyx took a step back from him, looking fearful again.

"It seems a bit familiar, don't you think?"

Zexion paused to consider it. He didn't particularly want to tell Demyx about anything he'd seen, but agreeing to one little question wasn't much, right?

"...yes," he replied. "It does."

"What are we wearing, anyway?" Demyx asked, picking at the sleeve of his jacket.

Zexion stared at his own attire, which consisted of a similar black jacket over black pants and a shirt, accented with black gloves and boots.

"A uniform of some sorts, I assume," he answered after careful consideration.

"But why are we wearing it, then?"

"I have no idea. I'm just as confused about this you are, alright?"

"But...you always used to know everything that was going on. I remember. I don't know what I'm remembering, but it's in my head somewhere. I just can only access bits and pieces of it."

Zexion was shocked at Demyx's openness about the whole ordeal. He should have known to expect it though; Demyx was  _always_  open to sharing. However, this was not going to convince him to share his own bit of remembrance.

"And you were always clueless and clumsy," he replied, inwardly surprised. He hadn't meant to say anything, however, the words just seemed to continue. "Everyone used to pick on you."

"Do you think we're having some sort of joint dream or something? Because this definitely feels  **real** ," Demyx said, brushing off the subtle jab.

"No," Zexion replied, shaking his head in confirmation. "No, I think this is real and we've lost out minds."

"But not our hearts. We have those this time."

And then everything was falling away and Zexion was being pulled back to the realm of normalcy. He landed ungracefully about a foot from Demyx, who appeared to have landed in a similar fashion.

"We're going back to the cabin and never discussing that again," Zexion said firmly, getting up and dusting himself off.

Demyx looked like he wanted to disagree, but decided against it, probably because he realized that he was already in trouble anyway. Instead, he just followed Zexion silently back to the cabin.

Zexion's mind was reeling from the experience. It had drained almost all the anger from him, leaving him instead full of confusion. He didn't like it. He had felt a sense of familiarity the whole time spent in the castle, but the disconcerting part had been the snippets of memories and conversations that had been practically  _flying_  through his mind. He wanted to forget them and forget what had happened and just forget  _everything_. It had all been so much more vivid when actually there, so much more real feeling than anything from earlier. But he wanted nothing more than to forget it all.

Especially the continuation of the vision he'd stopped earlier, which was now haunting his mind and his senses.

**-x-x-x-x-x-**

Demyx trailed behind Zexion silently, fearful of invoking the older teen's wrath. He was practically exploding with questions, but he knew that Zexion would just yell at him again.

Honestly, he had never expected Zexion to yell. He had expected a calm, collected rant about his horrible behavior, but not this. This side of Zexion was frustrated and angry, different and yet eerily familiar.

Demyx was also tired of the confusing things that just kept happening. First the vision and flooding his room, then Roxas's similar experience, and now his and Zexion's joint trip to that weird castle. He could feel long-hidden memories swirling around in the edges of his mind, but he couldn't quite reach them. It was frustrating.

He couldn't help but agree with Roxas's suggestion of a possible past life. It would make sense, and Demyx liked it when things made sense. Actually, he usually didn't care, but this was an exception. This was serious, not some little thing.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like Zexion was willing to discuss it anymore, regardless of what he had told Axel and Roxas.

Before his thoughts could progress any farther, they were at the cabin and Demyx was being led into a back room, which was soon occupied with Cloud, Tifa, and Marluxia.

He was in trouble now.

"Marluxia, Demyx. There was a problem in your room this evening. We'd all like to hear an explanation for it," Zexion began calmly. "Demyx?"

He bristled at the cold tone in Zexion's voice. He knew that he was an annoyance, but Zexion had never treated him like that before...

"I accidentally flooded it," he answered.

"You accidentally flooded it," Cloud repeated slowly.

Tifa was staring at him like he was insane. "How?"

"Uh..."

"Demyx and I already discussed it," Zexion said, saving him from having to explain his problem with water.

Demyx looked up at Zexion in shock, who mouthed 'We'll talk later' at him.

"I don't want him in my room anymore," Marluxia said, speaking for the first time in the meeting. "He destroyed all my precious flowers. My poor, poor babies..."

"Yes, I don't think he could be trusted with a roommate anymore," Tifa said. "But we don't have any more rooms...Perhaps he could stay with a counselor?"

Demyx then noticed that both Cloud and Tifa were looking pointedly at Zexion. He briefly considered that they had planned this out beforehand and almost disregarded it when Cloud said something.

"We discussed this while you two were gone, and it seems like the most logical explanation."

Zexion was glaring at his fellow counselors. "Whatever," he said dismissively. "I don't have another bed in my room though, so he'll be taking the couch."

Counselors got couches in their rooms? At least he didn't have to sleep on the floor.

"Then it's settled," Tifa announced, clasping her hands together in what appeared to be glee. "Demyx, grab what's left of your stuff and move it into Zexion's room. He'll lead the way."

Zexion didn't say a word as Demyx gathered his belongings and moved them into the older boy's room. He pointed towards the dresser on the other side of the room and Demyx took it as an invitation to put his clothes away. He had just finished and was sitting down on the couch when a blanket hit him in the head, followed shortly by a pillow.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

"Don't mention it," Zexion answered sharply. "Any of it."

"Zexion..."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Demyx knew he shouldn't say anything, but he just  _had to know_.

"What did you see?"

Zexion, who had been lying on the bed gazing at the ceiling, sat up to look at him.

"I said-"

"That you didn't want to talk about it, I  **know**! But I  _do_. And if it's personal, that's fine, but you could at least let me know that's why you don't want to talk about," he finished quietly.

"You really want to know what I saw, then?"

"Yes!" he answered enthusiastically, barely noticing that Zexion had gotten up from the bed to walk across the room.

"This," he said simply, pulling Demyx up from the couch and practically slamming him in to the wall. "Is what I saw."

And then Zexion was kissing him and Demyx faintly recalled gasping in surprise before it ended, nearly as quickly as it had begun.

"Happy?"

Demyx opened his mouth to say something, but Zexion cut him off.

"What kind of former life did I  _have_? Because I've decided that that's what those visions  _must_  be from. It's impossible for us to have such similar memories without them being directly related, so they must have some sort of special meaning. I don't know. It's confusing. It would be so much easier if they weren't so  **jumbled**! Why can't it be simpler?!" he finished, slumping down to sit on couch unhappily. Demyx sat at the other end.

Zexion was spazzing out like crazy, and Demyx wasn't quite sure how to stop that. He was still a little dazed. In some past life he made out with Zexion? He  _really_  wanted to know what he had been thinking.

Not like it had been  _bad_  or anything, just...sudden. And very un-Zexion-like. But Zexion had been completely different since he had come to get him out of hiding at Axel and Roxas's room.

"Maybe we should just...go with the flow? Let things come as they do," Demyx finally said.

"Go with the flow? Hm...I feel like...you were always like that."

"I'm easygoing! It's just how I am. And, er, probably always have been, I guess. Former life...that sounds really cool. We must be extra-special to get more than one life!"

"Either that, or we messed up the last one and now we get another chance."

"I bet Axel and Roxas were like Romeo and Juliet," Demyx said dreamily. It just seemed like something that would involve the two.

"Really."

"Yeah! It just seems like the two of them."

"And now they're all over each other. As marvelous as it is for those two, the rest of us would rather not have to check to woods for them before trying to take a relaxing walk."

Demyx smiled. Zexion was finally calming down. Things could go back to normal, or at least close to it. Seeing as there were on the topic of relationships anyway, he decided to try to get to know Zexion better.

"Do you have a girlfriend or anything back home?"

"No," he answered. "You?"

"Nope. No boyfriend either?"

Zexion glared.

"You never know..."

"Demyx. I'm not gay. I don't even know why we're having this conversation. And  _don't_  say a word about earlier. I can tell you're dying to."

"You know, you  _could_  have just  _told_  me what you saw," he said, knowing full well that he was risking invoking Zexion's wrath again.

All he got was another glare.

"I'm going to bed."

"Okay!" he replied cheerily. "Good night Zexy."

He smiled when he didn't hear a complaint about the nickname.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, there is no Marluxia and Naminé section D: Mainly because if you want that, this thing won't get updated until December. Why? NaNoWriMo is starting again and I am, once again, writing a KH fic. BE EXCITED.
> 
> Next time: We actually _do_ catch up with Marluxia and Naminé, Axel and Roxas take their own little trip to The Castle That Never Was, and Sora is just oblivious.
> 
> _2018 note: I have not finished this, obviously, but I do have about 15k words that I never published on fanfiction.net. So uh, maybe look out for those someday?_


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